The Fourth Galactic Power
by The Real BONK'er
Summary: Another species join the race for expansion after the Shepard's resurrection. How will the other races react on the new stronger rivals? Is the Citadel Council ready for a race of military character? How are the Carvins gonna react for the Council's constant bullshiting? Are they ready to help Commander Shepard and his crew to defeat the Collectors? Where are they from anyway?
1. The Rise of the Carvin Empire

**A/N: Hi guys. So the idea for this story came to my mind while I was absolutely not productive. I know there is not many stories of this kind, but I'm writting what I want to share with you. I will use my creatures from Spore and my choices from Mass Effect. I might change some things relating to both games. It's Fanfiction and I can do anything! I encourage constructive and non-offensive criticism.**

 **ALERT! THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN! I ADDED AND CHANGED SOME THINGS WITHOUT BREAKING THE STORYLINE ENTIRELY, AND FIXED SOME DATES AND NUMBERS TO MAKE IT MORE REALISTIC. HOPE YOU LIKE IT.**

 **Well, now after all of this,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **STORYLINE**

3 000 000 000 BCE (BCE - Before Current Era) (Genesis):

Sudden appearance of Carvins on the borders of the Outer Council space and Attican Traverse. They are omnivorous species, though their preferation is rather meat. Their unique traits are: having two hearts, ability to breathe underwater, remarkable intelligence, wings for short-timed gliding, really fast reproductive system and life expectancy over a thousand years. Carvins quickly secure their position on the continent and are well known by other species as strong, stealthy, agile and extremely dangerous predators. In the direct fight, when wounded, they can become enraged and their damage resistance is increased during this state while their fighting strategy becomes more brutal.

 _Our lives depend on fighting_

 _We fight for survival_

 _Without survival there is no life_

A Carvin saying

300 000 000 BCE (Pre-tribe Age)

While Carvins remain the most successful predators on the planet, some of the other species begin to develop social groups and soon become sapient. They form their own tribes and slowly but steadily start to pose a threat to the Carvins.

 _There's always someone who will desire what is yours_

 _If you can't fight back_

 _It means you weren't worthy of it in the first place_

A Carvin saying

40 000 BCE (Tribe Age):

In order to adapt to the new type of foe, Carvins themselves form their first social communities. After some time, Carvins secured their position and created their first village. They learned how to control the fire and use it wisely. Their pack instincts are getting even stronger and they create an efficient and tolerancji society. Knowing how to fight becomes a necesity in the village and the younglings are taught of this art from the beggining of their lives. Long lives and fast reproductive system makes Carvins grow in strength very fast.

 _The world is full of danger_

 _A danger that we can't face alone_

 _That's why we have eachother_

One of the first lessons given to Carvin younglings by their parents.

15 000 BCE (Domination Age):

Long fights between the other tribes results in success of the Carvins and the beggining of their domination on the continent. Vorgen tribe is remembered by them as an honorable enemy to the Carvins.

 _There is litte honor and gain from defeating a weak enemy_

Rules of Warfare - rule 15

6 000 (Rise of the civilization)

After Carvin tribes started to compete with one another, some of them became more advanced and formed the first civilizations. This would make the beggining of a rapid transition of the stronger tribes into proper civilizations.

 _Strong people need a strong goverment to lead them._

 _If the goverment is weaker than the people_

 _Then order shall never come to be._

Inscription in one of the ancient palaces.

4 371 BCE (Bronze Age):

Discovery of bronze and inventing a wheel caused a technological jump forward. Though buildings are mostly made of wood since using stone was expensive due to the low durability of bronze tools. Carvin communities grow larger and split up into small nations and city-states that constantly competed with eachother for land, resources and influence. However the conquered states showed a trend to quite easily integrate to the culture of their new masters.

 _Death and Glory!_

Carvin military warcry

2 608 BCE (Iron Age):

Replacing bronze tools with their iron equivalent opens many new posibilities. Stone and bricks are now the main building materials. Many new types of weapons were created, as the conflicts became more frequent and brutal. Two big players emerge from the fighting nations: Carvin Republic and Carvin Federation. These two states begin to rapidly attack and conquer the weaker nations around, or ally the stronger ones in order to create coalitions against eachother.

 _A strong nation should be like iron_

 _Hard enough to fight and hurt their enemies,_

 _But elastic enough to change and adapt at will_

Quirox Na'Zuul - the first ruler of Carvin Republic

1 120 BCE (Peace Age):

The Republic and Federation decided to cease their conquests for a moment. The culture had it's golden age during this period. Many non-military things were invented or discovered. Astronomy grew with the invention of telescope and 7 planets were identified. The industrial sector has grown as well, possibly in order to prepare the two factions for the upcoming conflicts. Some weaker states were annexed either by the Big Two, or their allies and vassals.

 _Our species naturally strive towards conflict_

 _It is natural for us_

 _With our mentality it is unavoidable_

 _And the winner will be the one who realizes it first_

Izvar Ri'Tuun - Carvin philosopher

987 BCE (The Age of Proxy Wars)

In order to gain more support, both the Republic and the Federation have taken a different approach. They shifted their focus towards smaller and neutral states fighting eachother. They would support the opposing sides to achieve local victories and gain allies. The strategy is successful and both the Republic and Federation achieve successes in various parts of the soon-to-be frontline,

 _If the war cannot be won in the hearts of the people,_

 _It will not be won on the battlefield either._

Rules of Warfare - 3

616 BCE (Beggining of the War Age):

Conflicts began again. Many new war machines were created. Although everything changed when gunpowder was discovered. Both factions added a military service as a necesity to their education system. Ranged combat had a much wider role than just a support for a direct combat soldiers. Looking for new sources of the gunpowder, both factions invested in exploring new lands and conquering other smaller nation states.

 _A good soldier must know how to fight using anything available_

Rules of Warfare - rule 37

453 BCE (Steam age):

With the invention of the steam engine by the Federation scientists, its properties were soon harnessed by the military. The Republic forces have been decimated after the massacre in the Garthan valley. The Federation introduced their prototype armored vehicles which did their job very good. Carvin Republic desperately mobilizes their scientists and engineers to create an enemy for a new monster of their enemies. After a short time, both sides have their vehicles dominating on the battlefield.

 _If enemy doesn't play by the rules, them neither should you._

Rules of Warfare - rule 18

421 BCE (Sky Age):

The battles have reached the sky of Carvistorn. Carvin Republic this time surprises their enemies with creation of aircraft. Flying vehicles were divided to two groups: light - that fought infantry, and heavy - that was obliterating the vehicles with their heavy cannons and bombs. Federation recieved a severe blow, but soon light aircraft changed it's role: to fight enemy aircraft, as both sides soon employ more and more advanced forms of planes.

 _The war is not about what weapon you use._

 _It's about how you use it._

Rules of war - rule 21

386 BCE (End of the War Age): A terrifying coincidence caused two factions drop nukes on eachother's capital cities. The power of this weapon shocked everyone and two factions have decided to unite and create the The Great Carvin Empire which was ruled by the highest military officers from both sides. They were known as High Generals and all of them were creating a Council that ruled all of the Carvins.

 _There is no point in killing a brother if there are certanly more dangerous things to fight._

One of the first lessons given to the Carvin younglings by their parents

374 BCE (Science Age): Reunited under one flag, The Great Carvinian Empire was now having a Golden Age of science. Invention of microscope or even more practical vehicles were only a pinch of how many other things were invented and discovered. What became a really controversial topic was that all of the creatures of the planet Carvistorn were mutating when treated with radioactive materials, while Carvins were left untouched. Another topic was that they had a more organized genetic code. This created a lot of question about the origin of the Carvins.

 _Progress means change_

 _Change means survival_

 _Stagnation means death_

Platir Te'Rook - motto of the Carvin scientists

359 BCE (Space Age): A first satellite is launched into space. This causes most of the scientific labs to focuse on finding a more effective way to travel through space.

 _Space is the ultimate challenge for any conqueror_

341 BCE (Travelling Age): A crashed spaceship is discovered underground. Scientists have commited succesful attempt of recreating it's intersellar drive. Soon after, the first Carvin spaceship is launched into space to explore the solar system. Many other parts of the ship were recreated like: long-range communicator, life support systems or weapon systems. This creates even more controversies about the origin of the Carvins. Special scientific groups are formed to study this case.

326 BCE: Fifth attempt of creating an independent base on the Carvistorn's moon Inviraton succeeds. Many companies are now ready to spend fortune on expanding the base or even establishing more. The High General Council decides that they need to explore their solar system before going any further. Their system was named after the first Carvin who stepped on the Carvistorn's moon: Lexaant.

293 BCE: Another great discovery creates a big commotion on the Carvn homeworld. The neighboring planet, Mantar is confirmed to have a breathable atmosphere, though High Generals suggest to stabilize it with the Carvistorn's plants. A colonization ship is soon launched to establish another colony on the planet. Many scientists are flying there as well to study the alien flora.

285: BCE: A new material was discovered on Mantar. Reantanium is proved to be a very strong and hard metal. It's use is now limited to the military, until there will be other sources of it. All ships are ordered to return to the homeworld to recieve a new armor.

 _You can wear the tougest armor,_

 _But it won't be useful if you collapse under its weight_

Rules of Warfare - rule 14

266 BCE: First orbital shipyard is launched on the orbit of Carvistorn. The other shipyard for Mantar is still in construction. Both of them are big enough to build ships of the size from 10 meter starfighters to 2 kilometer cruisers. Carvins set up a different system of determining ships.

Starfighters- are usually 10 meters long or a bit longer. Their major objective is to fight the enemy aircraft. They are armed with four cannons and a weak homing torpedo launcher

Bombers - are usualy 12 meters long and are designed to attack the larger enemy ships or doing a bombing run on the planets. Their armament contains two cannons and two homing proton torpedo launchers.

Corvettes - are usually of size between 150 and 200 meters. Their main objective is to defend the bigger ships from the enemy aircraft or provide support for other larger units.

Frigates - are medium-sized ships which are the main strength of the Carvins along with the cruisers. They are usually 400-500 meters long. Their job is to attack the smaller enemy ships. Frigates have mounted AA cannons that can keep it independent from corvettes or friendly fighters. Their usual commander is a captain or sometimes admiral

Cruisers - are also medium-sized ships that are designed to take out enemy ships of the same size or attack bigger ships in groups. They are 600-800 meters long, but don't have enough AA cannons to defend themselves from the big swarms of fighters. They can lead smaller fleets of frigates and corvettes to battle. Admirals are usually in command of them

Dreadnoughts - The biggest ships in the Carvin millitary. They can be bigger than 1,5 killometer and are specially designed to lead big fleets to battle. Dreadnoughts are filled with the best officers, engineers and shooters to provide a maximum effectiveness on the battlefield. It's main gun is the strongest one, but like all ships in the Carvin Navy (except fighters and bombers) they have other cannons on their sides to effectively ram the enemy fleet with ability to shoot forward, left, right, up and down. They are also equipped with the cannons on the back unlike the other ships, because their cost is enormous and Carvins are not interested in loosing their most valuable ships by an attack from behind. They are usually under controll of a High General.

222 BCE: The Carvin Navy has reached a number of 80 corvettes, 56 frigates, 32 cruisers and 4 Dreadnoughts. Carvins now possess two big shipyards and four minor ones for fighters, corvettes and frigates.

206 BCE (The Great Grox War): An unknown fleet arrives to the Lexaant system and starts attacking the Carvins without any warning. After a few days, the invaders send a transmission in which they call themselves 'The Grox Empire' and that 'they are here to reclaim what's theirs'. The Grox are outmatching Carvins technologically and during the first days, they conquer Mantar and Inviraton.

205 BCE: Carvins are desperately holding up on their homeworld, but in ground fight, they are decimating the Grox infantry which is not even made of the Grox soldiers. It seems that the cyborgs created an army of clones. The investigation shows that the Grox are cyborgs and can't survive on the planets with life.

205 BCE: General (not High General) Seviros fights the Grox main forces, keeping them off the Capital city. Their defense breaks as the Grox are launching an Anti-matter bomb and 6 500 000 soldiers die, though the general Seviros survives the massacre. The crater of the blow is has been called the Graveyard of the Freedom Defenders.

204 BCE: The Carvins are on the verge of extinction and many of the civilians and soldiers are captured. A desperate operation of stealing the Grox prototypical ship somehow succeeds. An elite group of operatives including the specialist Virox Ri'kaan has manadged to get on board the Grox aircraft carrier and stole the prototype. The ship of a size of a really big starfighter (about 26 meters) codename 'Assasin' has an advanced stealth systems and weapons strong enough to destroy a cruiser on one shot. Though it needs to recharge before taking another shot.

204 BCE: The code Grox999 is discovered by the Carvin spies and used properly. The remaining Carvin forces immobilized all of the Grox ships in the system. With the Assasin and what was left of the Carvin Navy, Carvins have manadged to take out or capture the biggest Grox ships. The rest of the invaders have either escaped through the near space anomaly or were destroyed.

203 BCE: The primary target for the Carvins is set by the living High Generals to be repopulation of their home planet. Fast reproductive system and the long life made this easier. General Seviros and his fellow soldiers though were critically wounded and his last wish was to put them all into cyrostasis and wake him up when there will be a posibility to save them. Most of the soldiers died even before entering the cryostasis, but Seviros and his elite soldiers including Virox Ri'Kaan lived and entered the cryostasis without any complications.

1 CE (Current Era): Carvistorn is restored to it's original state, except the big damages to the enviroment like the Graveyard of the Freedom Defenders. The process of recolonization of Inviraton and Mantar are in progress.

20 CE: With all three positions under control again, Carvins are attempting to restore their fleet. From the salvaged Grox ships, they acquire the laser technology, energy shields and better interstellar drives. Further study of their ships and databanks revealed a prototypical laser beam technology that was to be installed on the 'Assasin' class ships, though form the unknown reasons, it didn't happen. The miners of Reantanium on Mantar and workers of the first new shipyard are now the job with the highest payment.

60 CE: The other great shipyard is launched again on the orbit of Carvistorn. Two smaller ones are in construction to be launched on the orbit of it's moon Inviraton. Process of the terraformation of the moon and restablizing the ecosystem of Mantar are also in progress.

458 CE: Carvin Navy returns to it's glory, but this time with brand new weaponrary, armor, shields and engines. The High Generals are giving the order of exploring the other space systems.

562 CE: Carvins decide to recreate the cybernetic implants of the Grox for them. Though, the Law of Implanting was introduced and it contained the ban for all the implants that affect the brain or major organs in the body. Nevertheless, soon most of the Carvins had their arms, legs and tails with spikes changed on their cybernetic equivalents.

746 CE: New Reantanium deposits were discovered in the neighboring star system. Two colony ships were sent on two planets to extract the precious material for Carvins.

822 CE: A new 'smart' armor was introduced to the millitary. It contains high quality Reantanium plating, personal shield generators, radar, thermovision and smart aiming syster that connected the weapon's sight to the soldier's helmet making him shoot more accurate when shooting from the hip. Upgrades for the cybernetic implants were also increasing the stability of all weapons.

1237 CE: 'Giving Life' program for the planets is launched. All of the new colonies of which planet's didn't have a breathable atmosphere, recieved it's support to terraform it with new advanced technology extracted from the Grox ships databanks. Though the databases contained usually the ways of defending themseves from these ways.

1590 CE: Carvins control 18 star systems on the Outer Council Space and the Attican Traverse. The number of the planets controlled is 37 and almost all of them are highly fortified.

1637 CE: A planetary electromagnetic cannon is created. This expensive weapon has an ability to disable the entire ships from the surface of the planet. All of the major colonies are recieving this weapon with higher priority.

1855 CE: The Carvin Millitary has reached it's Golden Era again, but this time with new types of ships, troops and vehicles. Taking an example from the Grox, Carvins built the aircraft carriers that could hold up to 100 stargfighters and 60 bombers at first. New Assasin class ship was even more expensive in building than Dreadnoughts, but it didn't stop them from building these types of ships mainly because of their firepower combined with advanced stealth systems. The laser and high quality shield technologies were implemented to all ships. Every part of military recieved some upgrades.

Navy:

Fighters - were now armed in four laser cannons and one laser beam, though it could shoot every 6 seconds and it's duration lasted for half a second.

Bombers - recieved the stronger torpedos and bombs.

Corvettes - targeting computers were upgraded.

Frigates - engines were upgraded to provide higher mobility.

Cruisers - recieved a big laser beam as a main cannon and better engines for increased mobility

Dreadnought - recieved a big laser beam as a main cannon and better engines for increased mobility. A small fighter hangar was installed there as well to fit about 20 fighters and 5 bombers.

Assasins - recieved a powerful jamming technology to disrupt the scanners of the enemy ships feeding them with false informations. All Carvin ships had installed a filter to prevent them from loosing their scanners as well.

Ground Forces:

Infantry - recieved advanced targeting systems, necessary grapple hook and new energy weapons.

Light ground transports - new repulsor engines and shield generators

Heavy ground transports - added small rocket launchers and shield generators

Tanks - increased the fire rate of the main gun without reducing it's strength, added shield generator and a changable movement modes: on tracks and using repulsor engines.

Mobile Artillery Platform (MAP) - improved movement systems appreciaby. Firepower was also increased.

1936 CE: General Seviros and his soldiers are taken out of cyrostasis pods. They recieve basic cybernetic implants and are slowly getting used to the new world. General Seviros recieves a rank of a High General for his service in the Great Grox War.

2000 CE: Many long-range recievers were installed all over the Carvin Empire. Carvins accidentaly connect to the galactic 'extranet' and use it to eavesdropp what's going on in the galaxy. The moles placed across the extranet indicated that there are 3 biggest powers known in the galaxy: Turians, Salarians and Asari. Other minor races didn't caught their attention except the Krogan. Carvins continued on eavesdropping the extranet.

2119 CE: All forces of the Carvin Empire

Fighters - N/A

Bombers - N/A

Corvettes - 257

Frigates - 184

Cruisers - 128

Dreadoughts - 36

Assasins - 12

Carriers - 27

2169 CE: A race known as Humans joins the Citadel races after a short conflict with Turians. Carvins are gathering data about them and see them as potential enemy or strong ally.

2183 CE: The battle of the Citadel occurs and the Council is saved from the unknown ship called Sovereign. The AI known as Geth are reported to follow it for unknown reasons. One name is shown everywhere in the extranet: Commander Shepard. Though after a few weeks from the battle, there are reports of his death.

2185 CE: Organization known as Cerberus finishes their Lazarus Project, though no data could be gathered by Carvin Intelligence Group (CIG). There are also reports on noticing the existence of the Carvin Empire. Navy is mobilized on the borders of the Carvin Empire and long-range scanners are installed on the orbits of the planets.

 **A/N: So this is a little introduction to my species. I WILL explain their true origin, their abilities and why they might seem so overpowered. Don't worry :). If you wanna see the pre-cybernetified Carvins on Sporepedia, go to search, tick 'all' and search 'therealbonker'. Carvin should be the only creature to be shown.**

 **Let me know what do you think so far. Carry on and see you guys in the next chapter!**

 **Bonker out!**


	2. First Contact (war)

**A/N: ALERT! THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN HEAVILY MODIFIED, WITH INCLUSION OF SOME PLOT CHANGES. THE REVIEWS AND RESPONSES ARE IRRELEVANT, THEREFORE I REMOVED THOSE I COULD, WHETHER GOOD OR BAD. I KNOW THAT THE BEGGINING OF THE STORY WENT HORRIBLE. MANY PEOPLE TOLD ME TO FIX THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS, SO BE PATIENT AS I'M DOING THAT. (Aaaand in the process I actually made the chapter longer :D)**

 **Anyway, here is some data on the Commander Shepard's profile that will be used in this series.**

 **Pre-service history - Earthborn**

 **Psychological profile - War Hero (though during the interactions with friends, silly jokes can appear)**

 **Class - Soldier**

 **Appearance - Default**

 **And some important events from Mass Effect 1 (since it all happens during ME2):**

 **Romance - Liara T'Soni**

 **Wrex - Survived on Virmire (YAY)**

 **Dead member - Kaidan Alenko**

 **Alive member - Ashley Williams**

 **And with that being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Shepard's POV**

I just came back from Illium recruting Thane Krios and Samara. It was also good to visit Liara after all of this time, though I would really like her to be with us, not on Illium. She disagreed, because of her hunt for the Shadow Broker. If it was up to me, I would stop her, but Liara wanted this to be done so I let her do this and offered help if I'd find something interesting.

After getting back on the ship I couldn't even do anything as a cocky voice echoed through all of the Normandy.

"Hey Commander! The Illusive Man wants to talk with you in the conference room." Joker said. "Some important stuff to do."

"I would advise you, commander to head there immediately." EDI added.

"Isn't that what I just said?" the pilot argued.

"No, you've said that The Illusive Man wants to see Shepard." the AI replied calmly. "Not that he should meet with him as fast as he could."

"That's the same God damn thing!" Joker sounded really irritated now.

"Could you please turn off the comm, if you want to argue?" I called out and everything fell silent. "That's better."

I headed to the conference room. If the Illusive Man found something and bothered to contact me, it was something important that probably needed my attention immediately.

"Shepard." a familiar voice welcomed me. "Glad you're here."

"What do I have to do this time?" I asked.

"The situation is delicate. There are reports that a new civilization is present in the galaxy, though they didn't contact us yet. Whether they didn't know about us, or just decided to not reveal themselves yet is unknown." The Illusive Man explained. "From what my sources tell, they are a military race that have a potential, as well as possess exotic technology, vastly different than ours. It is crucial that we, as humanity, welcome them firmly and appear to them as a potential ally on the galactic political arena."

"So we basically make a first contact situation, and make them to like us." I summed up.

"Yes, however since you're more of a diplomat than us, I would like you to welcome them to the galactic community personally." he said. "If you can, try to get at least some piece of their technology as well."

"Alright." I ended the transmission. I walked out of the conference room and the voice of my pilot echoed through the hallway again.

"So what's our plan, commander?" Joker could be heard through the speakers.

"We're gonna check out the coordinates that the Illusive Man sent us." I told him. "And then make a first contact with another species that are probably living there."

"Rog'. I've heard we're gonna get some escort." he pointed out.

"Not exactly. They're to set up the meeting, while we officially welcome them to the galactic community." I said and went to prepare for something that I never faced before.

'Why do I have a feeling that all of it is gonna go completely wrong?' a thought hit me in the head.

 **Specialist Virox's POV**

The command announced a higher alert status. That basically meant all of us need to be prepared for anything that will come towards us. This time it was going to be another civilization. However now I was stationed with a small detatchment of the 6th fleet, on the orbit of a planetoid rich in in resources. From what I've heard from the talks going on, there was mostly rare metals, but also that weird element that could screw with the mass if electrocuted, or something like that.

'I wonder who bothered to visit us first.' I thought. 'Turians, Salarians, Asari or Humans? Or maybe some of the lesser races? Maybe Volus or Hanar?'

Now everyone was required to know the races of so called 'Citadel' for just a sake of knowing it, and outfitted all of us with translation data, as well as gave us our own, just in case we needed to communicate. They explained it with a simple 'to avoid diplomatic incidents'.

'That's just bullshit. We are just here to fight, not negoicate!' my irritation wasn't giving up. We were in the middle of freaking nowhere, this system was barely charted, and our ships mostly stayed near the mining facility. There was an enormous chance that they'd just pass through the system, unaware of our existence.

I was assigned to a fighter squadron in case the aliens will show up, though my skills in flying could be better. I went through ad course and my temporary squadron got the hang of it a lot quicker than I did. Even after all this time of settling in, it was a bit... hard to learn all these new things and adjust to new responsibilities.

It was still pretty shocking seeing so many new things after over a thousand years of being in coma. Fortunately General Seviros adapted quickly and now I was under his command. He was promoted to a High General and that opened many posiblities for all of us. Seviros was strict, but caring and he was approaching all of us as individuals. He wasn't like some SoBs from the ground forces who are reducing the war and battle tactics to arythmetics.

Suddenly the alarm activated and the number of hangar along with the location of my fighter already showed up on my HUD. I ran as fast as I could to reach the fighter. The X-126s were the newest models. Four laser cannons, two proton torpedo launchers, a small laser beam emitter and high mobility. That's what all pilots in the Navy wanted, because the better fighters were only being tested now. I am not much of a fan of flying, but can handle myself... for some time, until I inevitably die or someone saves my ass.

I entered the cockpit and began the launch sequence. What was really good at this military software was that it was simple, but effective. After a quick startup, I flew out of the hangar and joined my squadron in the formation. It took a while, but we recieved orders to escort a frigate and two corvettes, that were leaving the defensive formation around the mining facility. Not much details were given over the comms, but it wasn't my job to bother, even though I wanted to.

We finally reached the ships and took positions right above the frigate. They were all heading somewhere, but I didn't see a thing. My LADAR was blank, so why the hell were we here? Suddenly a transmission came in. It was broadcasted to a whole force, but not by one of our ships. Now the LADAR had shown a force of 5 ships. Two frigate-sized and three corvette-sized, escorted by fighters were on a collision course with our formation (A/N: Remember that the Carvins have a different scale system).

"This is Star Talon of the Systems Alliance to the unknown ships. Respond." The voice from the transmission said. I understood everything, with a slight delay of roughly a second, but thanks to the translators they implanted us with, everything was clear.

Now the image of the ships were clearly visible. A 3D image appeared on the side screen of my fighter. All five of them had a slim construction, with their main guns at the front, but from what I could see, they had no other armament. Weird.

"This is Commodore Ra'Zoon. You have entered a system controlled by the Carvin Empire. State your business." our flotilla leader responded. Everyone was listening to the exchange. Our formation was now getting quite close to the unidentified ships. I used a special 'zoom' utility of my fighter visor to look more closely at the ships. They had orange markings, and on the sides there was an orange symbol, resembling a diamond.

'Wait a minute... I don't remember that symbol from the cultural guides the command sent us.' I thought. 'Something is off..."

"In the name of the Systems Alliance, as well as other races, we would like to welcome you to the galactic community." the spokesman of the leading ship replied. "Our representative will arrive shortly, and we would be great if you could also-"

"You are to leave this system immediately." our Commodore interrupted. I was quite surprised, and a bit scared by this reaction. My childhood focused primarily on fighting the hostile aliens, and after all of that, the first thing we do after meeting another one, is trying to piss them off. "Your vessels are not matching the Systems Alliance signature. Based from your ship construction and symbols, your most probable affiliation is a terrorist organization 'Cerberus'. I repeat - leave this system immediately."

"Well, that explains a lot." I said to myself.

"We can solve this peacefully. If you can wait for our representative, we're sure that this encounter can go peacefully." spokesman from the Star Talon tried again. This was the first time I've heard a human language, but it didn't take a genious to notice a change of tone in his voice.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists. Only with the legitimate representatives of your species." Ra'Zoon replied sharply. "And we have studied your galactic network for long enough to know that violating some other species' borders allows them to open fire at the intruders' vessels. I will repeat one more time. Leave. This. System."

The unknown ships started to slow down, with their fighter escorts flying around the single vessels. It was too slow for a normal retreat, and it became even weirder that with each second they seemed to be retreating slower and slower. Then I heard something that made me freeze.

"Signal the rest." a quite distorted voice came from the enemy ship, suggesting that it was probably being eavesdropped, but nevertheless... this meant that they had reserves just in case...

"To all units, weapons free. Engage the enemy." the Commodore ordered. "Fighters, I want air superiority now. Bombers are secondary targets."

I felt like if my stomach was twisted by an incredible force. The memories of The Great Grox War were fresh in my mind, but then the feeling quickly disappeared. It was replaced by the ruthless determination. I was a soldier. The enemy came to our teritory. We were going to defend it.

My squadron and I quickly darted towards the enemy formation along with the other squadrons. The hostile spacecraft was ready for our attack, as they quickly dispersed and met us head on, only confirming that this Cerberus was planning for a fight. I saw my first target: a fighter that was flying right at me. I aim at target and waited for the targeting system to lock on. After roughly a second, three beeps were heard and both of us opened fire seemingly in the same moment. My laser cannons caused the enemy fighter to explode, but the projectiles it fired hit my fighter too. My shields were already at 39%, but as the battle took the form of a dogfight, things got better.

I quickly noticed one enemy fighter chasing after one of our guys, so I turned sharply and began my chase. The pilot must've noticed me somehow, since he ceased the pursuit of our fighter, and was now trying to circle around me. We were both trying to take eachother out, but my fighter was a lot more agile. Not faster unfortunately, but I could make sharper turns. He was now getting desperate as I almost had him on my crosshair. When I tried to fire a few shots, hoping that they would hit him or at least scare him, he took a sharp turn to the opposite side. I mimicked this maneuver to keep up, but my fighter's superior maneuverability allowed to me turn faster. This gave me a perfect opportunity to take him out. Not even waiting for the targeting computer, I fired once when the fighter was in my crosshairs. Direct hit. The enemy pilot tried to stabilize his fighter, but I got closer while taking advantage of the sudden shock, and fired two more shots. Now the fighter exploded.

With the corner of my eye I noticed our ships getting close to the enemy formation, and our bombers were pummeling the enemy cruisers with torpedos. Now our air superiority was basically secured, but there were still a few fighters fighting. On my HUD a small alert appeared, showing an enemy formation attacking the rest of our forces at the mining facility. I was now flying really close to the enemy cruiser's hull to evade the point-defense cannons, when I suddenly recieved an order to regroup with my squadron and reinforce the defense of the mining facility. Now getting out of the point-defense range was tricky. I tried to take a sharp turn right behind what was supposedly the bridge of the ship. It turned out worse than I imagined it. My turn was not as sharp as I wanted, and I flew dangerously close to the engines. The thruster exhaust melted through my shields, and I felt a lot warmer in my cockpit. I prayed to get away from the cruiser in time, but just as my shields started to regenerate, a blast shook my fighter.

I recovered from the shock and realized that the cockpit was still intact. After checking for any dangers, I attempted to stabilize my course, but to my surprise, the engines barely responded. The fighter was drifting while spinning, with me still inside.

"Shit." I said out loud and tried to run diagnostics. The engines were heavily damaged. 2 out of 4 engines were completely disabled, the third was barely doing anything, leaving me with the last one. I couldn't change my course, so the only thing to do was to activate a distress beacon. Hopefully our guys would find me BEFORE the enemy.

 **Shepard's POV**

The coordinates sent by the Illusive Man pointed to a system just recently charted on the maps. From what Baria Frontiers, a company that charted the system, wrote about it was simple. There were no habitable planets in the system, but the geoscans have proven that there were some rare materials present, as well as some eezo deposits. If the alien species established their presence in that system, it was probably because of the resources. That was the only logical conclusion.

I still couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something wrong with that whole meeting. Maybe it was because the race was highly militarized and could attack us. Or maybe because I still had some doubts about the Cerberus. From the small experience he had with them before (A/N: in the ME1), as well as the history of the organization itself, a perspective of them leading a peace negotiations, or welcoming a new species to the galactic community, was... questionable as a rational choice.

"Joker? How long until we enter the system?" I asked, but then EDI responded.

"Approximately 23 seconds, Commander." she said. "We should jump inside the rendezvous point without a problem."

"Hey! Commander can you tell... ah screw it, I'll deal with it myself." Joker was visibly irritated and kept mumbling something about synthetics taking the jobs of the organics. I couldn't blame him. If someone just replaced me with a machine, I would be pissed too, though maybe not so vocal about it.

"EDI, tell the crew to be ready for anything. We don't know if they're hostile." I told the AI, but this time Joker reacted.

"Guys, Commander wants you to stay on your guard in case things get shitty. Don't laze around." he spoke to a microphone that appeared in front of him. He then looked at EDI's hologram with a look that suggested one thing: he wouldn't let himself get replaced.

I ignored their fighting and focused on what was to come next. I learned from experience that practicing certain lines before such situations is useless, therefore this meeting was going to be really spontaneous. Trying to remain calm, I just focused on a few things to remember NOT to do. Don't show hostilities, try to not offend anyone, and don't show them your fear.

Then we left FTL, but I didn't see the other Cerberus ships that were supposed to be waiting here. I looked at Joker, who was looking at EDI with a triumphant look.

"Joker?" this time I didn't hide my annoyance with that rivalry of theirs.

"I'm sorry Commander, but if the AI here had predicted the course more precisely, I would've made corrections." he said with a sassy tone.

"I have calcula-" EDI tried to defend herself, but was cut off.

"Now, if you let me, I'll bring this baby to the rendezvous point in no-time." the pilot interrupted and cracked his fingers.

"I do NOT want you to do that in such delicate situations." I said coldly while looking at Joker, then shifted my glare towards EDI's hologram. "That goes for BOTH of you."

I don't get angry very often, but when I do, I clearly show it, and it seems that it did the job well. Joker's grin vanished as he focused on flying, while EDI fell silent too.

"Commander, a message coming from the Illusive Man." pilot said.

"Patch him through to the cockpit. I'm not going to the meeting room now." I ordered. It took a moment before the flickering screen showed the face of the Illusive Man.

"Shepard, we have an emergency." he said, his tone sounding different than usually. Now it had this tone of uncertainty.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It seemed that there was a misunderstanding between our ships and the commanders of these 'Carvins', like they call themselves." he started, his glowing eyes looking more at the floor than at me. "We're not quite sure yet who fired first, but this misunderstanding just escalated to a full engagement."

"You mean to say that you can't control your own agents? Because I doubt that these aliens just started shooting at them for no reason." I was very not convinced that this was a legit misunderstanding. "Nevermind, what do I do?"

"Giving your charismatic personality, I hoped that you can somehow ease the tensions." the Illusive Man inhaled some smoke from his cigarette, then exhaled as he continued. "However if you don't want to risk the engagement with these aliens, I do not force you to remain here."

I sighed with annoyance. This just got waaaay more complicated than I wanted it to.

"Alright. Joker, bring us in. I want the Normandy in range of their communicators, but just enough so that we can talk." I ordered and Joker adjusted his cap.

"Aye aye, Commander."

We were flying for a while, when suddenly EDI spoke.

"Commander. I am detecting a signal coming from a small signature in our vicinity."

"What is it?" I asked and she quickly brought up a 3D model of the object.

"Given the size and the structure, I suspect it is a fighter. An interceptor to be precise. It appears to be damaged." AI replied. "The signal it's transmitting is likely a distress call."

That was a good opportunity to try and end the hostilities. If we could try to recover the fighter and the pilot, then return him to these Carvins as a sign to cease hostilities, then we could try to bury the axe and start over. That is unless we bury the axe in eachothers heads first.

"Bring him into the hangar bay. If he resists, disable his weapon systems." I ordered and headed outside the cockpit. "Inform the crew that we'll be taking a guest onboard. I want the team on standby if the pilot turns out to be hostile."

 **Virox's POV**

"Oh for FUCK'S SAKE!" I screamed to myself inside the cockpit when I saw another ship incoming. This one was smaller than the big ships we've engaged at the beggining. It had smoother construction, but still had that orange theme, as well as that crystal/diamond/whatever symbol on its sides. Defianetely Cerberus. The protocol says to not negotiate with terrorists, so fine. I'd give them the biggest hell that I can possibly make... well, if they allow me to get out and fight. Thank goodness for the storage compartment and all my combat equipment.

However then the lights on my controls started to flicker. I ran quick diagnostics, but the engines weren't responding to anything. They must've hacked my fighter, and now it was being dragged into their hangar. It was strange to make a hangar on the corvette anyway. I tried to restore the power on the fighter, however it kept showing me a message 'ACCESS DENIED', but not in Carvin. In Human language. At least I understood this thanks to the translator implant. Shit, they seemed to be more useful than I initially thought. Nevertheless I didn't give up and tried to meddle with the wiring. Somehow I managed to turn on the self destruction system and set it on eight minutes.

'That should slow them down if I'll go meet the devil.' I smirked and took my CAR-26 rifle out of storage compartment. 'I'm not going down THAT easy.'

I looked outside the cockpit. There were several people outside. Most of them were probably unarmored humans, though I could see some other species. There was defianetely a krogan there, a green creature with a pistol and some blue energy surrounding him, a sniper behind the cover and one asari. On the very middle there was an armored human who was slowly approaching the fighter.

The timer was showing 7:15 minutes so I decided to get out. I quickly opened the cockpit the way that it was covering me from the sniper, and threw a flashbang at the humans to cover my retreat. Most of the unarmored humans started to shoot at me upon being flashbanged, but their leader stopped them raising his hand.

"There is no need for violence. We can solve this peacefully!" he shouted. Hah, after his buddies staged an assault on the facility, he expected me to just talk it out? Not to mention, this entire ship was terrorist property, and the fact that half of this ship's freakin' crew was now outside pointing their weapons at me. Proposition was as appealing as shitting on a galaxy-wide known celebrity, to then be forced to lick your own feces from him. Don't ask me how I got this comparison, since there's no explanation.

"Go to hell!" I shouted, even though they couldn't understand me, then peaked out of the cover and immediately started to shoot at the sniper. Most of my shots missed, but I registered at least one direct hit. What was strange though was the fact that he was either unshielded, since my laser did damage his armor, or his shields couldn't do shit against energy weapons. Still, that made everyone want to kill me now. I was surrounded by them with no way to run. But then I heard a battlecry and the I saw earlier krogan got a little bold. He flanked me and managed to pin me down to my fighter before I could react. He pointed his gun at me, but I used my left cybernetic arm to punch it out of his hand. Then I delivered a quick swing at his jaw with my right hand.

"I! AM! A KROGAN!" he roared and charged, but my strength enhanced by the implants allowed to me to stop him right in his tracks. I let out a warcry and used my tail's spiky end to hit him in the head making him step back.

"And I am a F*CKIN' Carvin!" I yelled back, then grabbed my rifle from the ground and pointed at him. Two shots directly to the chest.

But before I could finish him off, an unknown power threw me at the wall. My shields were at 34%. I could see the strange green creature with the pistol. He pointed the gun at me and I used all of my strength to quickly punch his arm. I knocked him down, but he landed a hit on me. I was just about to run for cover, but then the sniper landed a good hit on me, taking down the shield.

I felt pain below the neck and fell on my knees. Everything was blurry though I saw a human in the yellow armor. He chuckled and punched me in the throat making me fall on the ground. The pain was even stronger and I felt the familiar boost of energy as my vision was slowly getting red.

"-why did you do that, Zaeed?" a male voice could be heard, but I didn't really care. The sudden boost of adrenaline

"Just to make sure that he'll not stand up." the one called Zaeed replied.

"Did you double-check!?" I stood up enraged. Adrenaline was filling all of my muscles. The pain was making me stronger and my only purpose was survival.

"How the hell-aaaaaah!?" he was shocked as I grabbed him by the neck and threw at the wall, creating a sizeable dent. But before I could get another human, this weird power now pulled me up into the air. The entire fucking room seemed to have started firing at me. Every shot that I recieved was strengthening my rage. I saw this asari that probably caused this and I used my grapple hook to get out of the range of the strange power.

"Be gone!" the asari used her bloody magic to ram me at the wall, but this time I used it on my advantage. When I was about to hit the wall, I bounced off of it back towards her, and punched her in the stomach. I took out my pistol and fired a couple of shots. Surprisingly, her shield also didn't do shit against my weapons. She stumbled back, however before I could fire further, I felt more bullets hitting me from the right. It was the supposed leader of the humans. The same one who suggested the peaceful solution. I dashed towards him at lightning speed and grabbed his weapon, then used it to hit him in the head with it. But the constant fire from the unarmored humans (probably the crew), was growing increasingly dangerous. I leaped at them and grabbed one of them to throw him at two of his other friends.

I've heard a roar from behind and turned around just in time to hit the krogan (who recovered fairly quickly) in the face with my metallic arm. Although before I could finish him off, I felt something piercing my chest, and pain replaced anger, as I felt my strength was suddenly gone.

"I... hate... snipers." I let out before falling on the ground. Everything was dark now.

 **Shepard's POV**

Everyone let out a sigh of relief when the Carvin soldier fell on the ground. There were no casualties, but this soldier could match a krogan in strength, had extreme endurance, and had incredible combat skills... for an ordinary pilot. It wasn't filling me with optimism.

"EDI, is he dead?" I asked, as I slowly approached the static body.

"His vital signs are showing that he's still alive, though they are deteriorating rapidly. I would advise medical attention if we intend to keep him alive." The AI said.

"We need to get him to the medbay!" I ordered.

"Yeah and then he'll kill us all!" Zaeed said sarcastically. "Bullshit!"

I stood in front of him staring at his eyes coldly.

"From what I recall, you made him enraged. So now you'll-" but I couldn't finish as EDI interrupted.

"Shepard, the damaged fighter's power cells are warming. It is possible that the pilot managed to turn on the self-destruction sequence." she said. "I would suggest you to get out of the hangar. We can't throw it out during the FTL jump."

"Can you override the sequence?" I asked. "There has to be a way to stop it."

"What about EMP?" Garrus joined the conversation after coming down from his sniping position. "Wouldn't it do the job?"

"I might be able to release a pulse strong enough to deactivate all of the fighter's systems." EDI replied. "Though I would still strongly advise leaving the hangar."

That was all we needed. The elevator was full of people and we took the Carvin soldier by the way.

"Everyone return to their stations. I want only Mordin with me." I said "We'll try to make our new guest feel better."

"Yes. Of course." Mordin already sounded excited. "Studying new species really interesting. Many new things to discover."

I just didn't reply and with Garrus' help we moved the Carvin soldier to the medbay.

"Commander Shepard. Did someone get hurt during the encounter with that fighter pilot?" Dr. Chakwas asked after standing up, then noticed the unconcious soldier we were carrying. "And who is the one you're carrying?"

"The pilot himself... or herself. I don't really know. Because Cerberus screwed up the first contact, I thought that if we helped that pilot in the damaged fighter, and then return him to his allies as a gesture of good will, we could start over. Unfortunately, he... or she didn't want to cooperate." I explained. "We are probably in war now, but I just want to take care of him, in case this first contact can still be fixed. Can you help him?"

Doctor came closer and looked at the unconcious soldier. She touched his jaw and wounded parts of the body.

"I am surprised that his armor stopped so many of your shots. I need to run diagnostcs." she said. "Mr. Solus, could you help me, please?"

"Yes, yes. I'll be using the necessary medicine when needed." the salarian scientist nodded. They were running the scan of the soldier and I spotted something that looked like a sort of dog tags. It was something written in another language, but when I touched them, the writting changed to human alphabet. It said 'Virox Ri'Kaan'. Interesting...

"The initial scans show interesting results, though we will still continue the information gathering." Chakwas said, as she was clicking something on her omni-tool.

"Commander? We're closing in on the formation of these 'Carvins'. I suggest that if we're to calm them down, you should talk to them." Joker's voice suddenly echoed from the speakers.

"On my way." I said and headed towards the elevator. If there was even a slightest to avoid conflict, I had to act. The elevator seemed to be slower than usually, but that was probably because I was in a hurry. Still every second felt like ten to me at the moment. When I finally got out of the elevator, I darted towards the cockpit, hoping that it was not too late.

"Right on time, Commander. These Carvins have almost finished destroying Cerberus forces ahead of us. Looks nasty from what we've been seeing here. We should be in range to talk to them." Joker said and I could see the fighting go on in a distance.

"Hail the biggest vessel of the task group." I ordered and leaned beside him, ready to start a peace talk. A few seconds later the connection was established, but something was off. It was silent. "This is Commander Shepard, Normandy Sr-2. Hold your fire. We're peaceful."

There was no response. Something was telling me that this was going to end horribly. This feeling only got stronger when the formation of ships ahead of us set their course to collision course with the Normandy.

"Shepard, it seems that they're not interested in talking. Maybe we should jus-OH SHIT!" Joker didn't finish his thought, when something that looked like a giant portal appeared near the Carvin formation. Shortly after, an entire fleet of starships came out of it. There was at least one dreadnought, though it appeared to be of similar size to the Sovereign.

"Commander, the alien fighters are on a clear collision course with the Normandy. They are preparing for an attack. Recommending retreat." EDI said from her console.

There were multiple moments in my life when I felt helpless or angry, especially when people didn't want to listen to me (*ahem* the Council *ahem*). This one was similar, yet I still haven't gotten used to it. Fear, anger, desperation. All of these were filling my mind every single time, especially if there were lives at stake.

"Shepard!" suddenly the screen above us came to life. It was the Illusive Man again. "I have lost contact with the ships in the system. Right now the Normandy is the only ship left. It is not safe here anymore."

"I was planning on doing that right now." I replied, still angry that Cerberus screwed up the first contact. "But we still can't just leave this matter alone. We need to inform the Council."

"Yes. Ironically, the Citadel would be the best choice in these circumstances." Illusive Man said while looking down thoughtfully. "Head there and inform the Council tha-a-a-a-t *static* a n-n-e *static*"

"Commander. The aliens are launching a concentrated cyber attack on the Normandy! Immediate retreat recommended!" EDI informed from her console, while her image flickered. "Their cyber warfare is sophisticated. I'll do my best to hold them back."

"Joker! Get us out of here!" I ordered, almost yelling.

"Aye aye!" he quickly took up the controls and the Normandy made a sharp turn away from the formation. "Jumping in 3! 2! 1! Now!"

A familiar thud was heard when we entered FTL and the space outside the cockpit changed colour to blue-ish. It was done. I sighed after leaning on Joker's seat, trying to process everything that was going on in my head. Did we just start a war? How will the Council take the new species? Will they hate humanity now? So many questions. Fortunately someone decided to save me from thinking about that.

"Commander?" it was the voice of Doctor Chakwas. "We have finished our analysis of that pilot you've brought us. I think you'd like to see this."

"Coming down." I said still exhausted both mentally and physically. With slow and a bit shaky steps, I headed to the elevator... again. This time though I appreciated the slower movement of the elevator, as I was taking my time. It took a while for it to go down one deck, and I managed to partially recover from the exhaustion. When I opened the door to the medbay, Chakwas and Mordin were still over that pilot.

"Ah, you're here, Commander." the female doctor turned away from her omni-tool. "With the assistance of doctor Solus, I managed to gather some data on the physiology of those 'Carvins'."

"What is it, doctor?" I asked after approaching the unconcious Carvin.

"Similarly to the Krogan, it appears that these species have two hearts and one can work without another independently, though it lowers their effectiveness. I also observed a fast tissue regeneration ability. They are defianetely reptiles, however their sexual reproduction is vastly different than regular reptiles." she was counting. "But the most interesting thing is that they have very ordered and 'hard' genetic code as if someone was making it manually, or they have been modified. I said 'hard', because it seems that even radiation of any known type has little effect on it. I tried using gamma radiation on a skin sample, and it took extraordinarily strong rays to affect the chromosomes."

"Are you suggesting this is a clone?" I got curious.

"Not really. I would rather say that it's rather a... freak of nature among the races, or these aliens genetically modify themselves on a regular basis, or this particular individual was either heavily modified, or bred from scratch." Doctor said. This was getting more and more interesting.

"OK, but can you help him?" I asked.

"Effects of our medicine unknown." Mordin joined the conversation. "Medi-gel probably the best all-purpose option for us to use."

"Alright, but I think we need to locate him some secure place when he wakes up." I thought out loud.

"The AI core room has a small space that can be shielded by kinetic barrier." EDI said through the speaker.

"That's a perfect place." I commented and with the help of Mordin and Dr. Chakwas, we moved Virox to the AI core room. "Can you stimulate an electroshock to wake him up?"

"I'll do my best." the AI anwsered. The Virox's body was treated with electricity a few times. After a while, I could see some tiny movement and prepared for more peaceful conversation.

 **Virox's POV**

I could see the light. It was weak, but I still didn't know where I am. I tried to open my eyes and then the pain came. Pain in almost every part of my body. My torso itched everywhere, a feeling that I could only compare to being zapped by electricity. My HUD was flickering, probably because of the damage, but it still displayed the wounds on my body. I had multiple bullet wounds in my torso, but the cybernetic implants resisted all the fire I took. What was worrying me was that one of the heart symbols was glowing red, suggesting critical damage. I actually thought about what I was seeing. Did I die and this was only some sort of echo of my life? Or did I somehow survive and this was all real?

"Ugh." I looked around and saw some machinery around me. "If this is heaven, I'll be damned. If this is hell, it's not that bad."

Despite the pain I tried to focus on my surroundings. The room itself was relatively dark, while illuminated by a few weak orange lights. On my right there was a wall, so I turned to the left, only to see a purple field of some sort deforming the image behind it. However one thing was clearly visible. A slim figure, right outside the purple barrier. It was one of the humans. Anger quickly helped me recover from dizziness and I stood up, facing the male human. From what I could smell, he was tired but not afraid. That earned a bit of my respect.

"Can you understand me?" he asked, his expression remaining unchanged.

"Of course I do. Not that I particularly care about what you have to say." I replied with a bit of venom in my voice. He looked at me strangely, and I realized that he probably couldn't make sense of anything I just said.

"Right..." he scratched the back of his head. "Listen, we do not want to fight your brethren. This entire first contact was not supposed to go this way. We're both in bad situations now, so at least work with me here. Nod your head if you understand me."

I glared at him for a moment. Surprisingly, there were no negative vibes from him. Sure he took a stance that would help defend himself, but not one that could be interpreted as a threat. Couldn't deny, that was impressive. I nodded my head two times.

"Thank you. Now, is there any way we could communicate with eachother, that would be more effective than me asking questions and you nodding or not?" he asked.

Well, this was putting me in a very uncomfortable spot. I haven't exactly planned to be abducted by aliens, but then again, the protocol of being captured by enemy forces, obliged me to resist ANY sort of manipulation. With terrorists it was even more strict. If I cooperated now and was rescued later, I could be executed for treason, collaboration, aiding the enemy, leaking sensitive data, and/or many many other things. This would probably discourage me from helping that human, but then another thing crossed my mind. The future of our species on the galactic arena. We were attacked by the enemy terrorist organization. They were still terrorists, but waging war with the terrorists on a galactic scale was probably going to gain a few angry glares from the other species. The Empire always taught us to put the safety and well-being of the group above your own. The choice I was about to make would be unclear about which I chose to put first.

I clicked on my wrist computer and selected the 'database'. Then I went into 'translation data', and opened 'voice translator'. This would allow me to say what I wanted them to hear, then an automatic voice would translate it to their language. Communication like that would be highly inefficient, but this was only a step to a seamless communication.

"I have translation data here. I can send it to you. Then we talk normally." I said this to the device, and it translated my speech with no problem.

"EDI, let him send the data, then send it to my translator implant." the human said as something orange appeared around his left hand. A second later a hologram of something that I could only compare to a ball on a stick, manifested itself behind him.

"Acknowledged." it said with a more feminine voice.

(A/N: Due to the fact that in the games the translation is seamless and the characters appear to be speaking in english, I think that Shepard and his crew have specially designed implants that are essentially real-time translators which send the 'meaning' of the speech to the user's brain. Lynch me all you want. I still think that this is an accurate assumption.)

It took a while but the files went through relatively quickly, and I saw the human clickling something on that orange glowy thing that could appear around his hand.

"Say something." he asked as he was setting something up on that device.

"Something..." I said, not really thinking about anything clever.

"Thank you." he replied, and I realized that this was by far the most polite terrorist I have ever met... not that I had much experience with terrorists though.

"So what do you want from me?" I asked, not really wanting to get all buddy-buddy yet. The prospect of execution was still less than pleasing.

"Commander Shepard." the human introduced himself. "We don't want to hurt you."

"Virox Ri'Kaan. And you did just that. You just shot one of my hearts." I replied him. "So stop with the fancy talk bullshit and tell me what you want. At least I'll know what I won't give you."

Shepard looked at me strangely, but I ignored it. The PTSD I suffer from has earned me a good portion of weird looks and glares from other soldiers, but I stopped giving a damn long ago.

"Listen. This entire situation is as uncomfortable for you as it is for me. Abducting and then fighting you was not our intention from the start." he said, which only made me roll my eyes.

"And what WAS your intention?" I still wasn't giving up.

"When we detected your ship, we planned to get you on board and then deliver you back to your people as a sign of peace." Shepard explained. "The... 'welcome group' probably screwed something up, and we wanted to fix it."

"That..." I honestly didn't know what to say about what I just heard. "...is probably the most ridiculous statement I've heard, coming from someone who's basically a criminal."

"What do you... oh." he seemed dumbfounded at first, but seemed to recover quickly. "You mean Cerberus."

"What else would I mean?" I asked, truly astonished that this guy was seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was working for terrorists.

"So your people must've gained access to the extranet. You probably know what's roughly going on in the galaxy." Shepard deducted.

"Yes and yes." I was getting annoyed. "Now will you tell me what I've been asking you before? What? Do? You? Want?"

"Well, right now nothing. We planned to give you back to your people as a sign of peace, but now we need for everything to calm down and try to meet on a neutral ground and give you back." he simply said.

"...say what now?" I was the one dumbfounded now. "You're shitting me, right? If this is true, then you're the most peaceful terrorist I've ever met... not that I have much experience with that. But still! That's just weird!"

"Listen..." Shepard looked at me in all seriousness, but there was no hostility coming from him. More like exhaustion and... saddness? "I'm not happy about working with Cerberus either, but there are whole colonies of Humans going dark. Someone is abducting the colonists and our goverment doesn't do anything about it. We do not want war with a newly discovered species. Us Humans know how it feels better than most."

I looked at him for a while. What he was saying seemed very far-fetched. I mean, the goverment of their species just completely ignoring the fact that their colonists are being abducted? That was just ridiculous. If High General Council did something like that, there would be riots in the streets, protests across the entire Empire, demanding it to act and defend its citizens. We would never let the bureaucracy stand in the way of the safety of our people. At least that's what I thought. Yet still, the way he said it and how he acted, made me feel like if he was telling the truth. And if a terrorist organization was the only entity that would act, then perhaps it didn't seem like a bad idea to work with them for some time... WAIT! NO! I DIDN"T JUST THINK THAT!

"Alright..." I started, still unsure about my feelings towards this guy. "So now I just stay here until you sort things out? Will you at least feed me during this time?"

"What? No! We're heading to the Citadel, something that you can call a galactic goverment of all species." Shepard replied, from the looks of it he considered my question ridiculous. "After the rough encounter with your friends, we managed to get out just in time, even though they tried to stop us with cyber warfare. Thank EDI for it."

"Well, don't really know if I should be thanking you for evading pursuit that could lead to liberating me. I think I should be-WAIT!" I stopped mid-sentence, as I realized what I just heard. "Your ship was being hacked? By our ships?"

"Yes, but EDI managed to protect the Normandy from any incursions as we escaped." he anwsered, but seeing my concerned expression he turned backwards towards the hologram and asked. "Right?"

"The alien cyber warfare was incredibly sophisticated, and the combined processing power of all ships made it difficult to defend Normandy's systems." the AI explained. "However, despite some minor breaches, no critical incursions in the firewall were made."

"What minor breaches...?" I asked, already suspecting what these incursions could mean.

"A brief disruption of communications, along with a short eavesdrop." she replied.

"Wait." Shepard began to catch up. "You mean that disrupted transmission with the Illusive Man was compromised?"

"While not completely, the aliens defianetely heard the message and probably know we're heading to the Citadel." the hologram flickered.

...

...

...

"Shit!" I said while trying to look as calm as possible. In reality though, my mind was living through a nightmare. If they heard the transmission and High General Seviros went on a pursuit, then we could have a galactic war on our hands. The images from The Great Grox War flashed in front of me. The sight of cities ablaze, buildings in ruins. Corpses everywhere. I wouldn't be able relive all of that and mentally survive. My PTSD was bad enough. For the sake of myself and the Empire, I had to stop this and prevent the war from breaking out.

"Can you somehow stop your friends from following us to the Citadel?" Commander asked, but I shook my head.

"I don't even know if they're following us. It's a big unknown until we arrive. But if they do, we'll need to contact the ship leading the fleet." I explained. "It's probably going to be the Relentless. I'll have to ask you to boost the transmission capabilities of my transmitter. You... kind of broken my long-range radio."

"But couldn't you just use our transmitter instead of just amplifying your own signal with ours?" Shepard questioned. "It would be much more efficient."

"Hah, I'd have to use the security codes on the line, and I sure as hell ain't giving them to you just like that. Through my transmitter I'm clear for contact already. The signature is in the database." I said, while still thinking that despite that I could still be executed. "And if I gave you the codes and my folks would rescue me, I'd definitely be accused of treason and probably a dozen other things. I don't want to die yet."

"Right..." he nodded, though still not convinced. "What about the Citadel Fleet? I doubt that they'll just sit around and not do anything as your guys shoot our ship."

"I am a grunt. Not a diplomat. You're supposed to be the 'representative' or shit, right? Then do something about it! I can convince my folks to stop firing for some time, but yours need to do it too. Otherwise they'll just kill eachother and we'll have a galactic war on our hands that will probably take millions if not billions of lives, and all because you took me on your ship to give me back." I said and inhaled some air. This was all on one breath.

"Shepard. The Council have upholded your Spectre status. Perhaps using the Spectre authority you can order a temporary ceasefire, enough for the negotiations to commence." EDI suggested from behind the Commander.

"I don't know what the hell are you talking about, but if it works, I like it." I simply stated, as I had no idea what a Spectre was (other than a literal meaning of the word, but that guy isn't dead... or is he?). However then I smelled something. A lot of scents coming from behind the Commander. "Uh... is it just me, or behind that door there is a bunch of people eavesdropping?"

"Almost all of the team members are waiting in the medbay, attempting to eavesdrop your conversation. I have provided them with translation data." EDI replied. The Commander sighed and opened the door revealing surprised members of his crew.

"Shepard... we were just checking our injuries with Dr. Chakwas." the one who was probably a turian started to explain.

"Did I kick your asses so badly? I bet I could take you all if not for that sniper." I joked. Everyone's eyes landed on me and they seemed nervous. "Oh come on! I'm behind the shield so you're safe... if not counting the entire 6th fleet on your tail."

This time everyone looked a bit scared. Commander took a while to briefly explain the situation to them.

"Then we'll kick their asses like we kicked yours." the one called Zaeed smirked, while looking at me.

"If I remember correctly, you punched me once, then I threw you at the wall. Shame that your fat ass had to make a dent in a good ship like this one." I retaliated.

Almost all of the present team members started laughing. Shepard let out a short chuckle, but stopped and took more serious tone.

"This is serious now. I want everyone on their stations. The Normandy will probably be under a lot of strain soon. Make sure she makes it through the ride we'e about to go through."

"That's just perfect." a turian said sarcastically. I looked at him closer and I remembered.

"Wait a second... you're that pain-in-the-ass sniper from the hangar!" I thought out loud. "Do you know how much it hurts to get your heart shot off?

"Uh yeah." he chuckled nervously. "I'm Garrus Vakarian."

"And I am kicking your ass when someone will let me out." I laughed along with everyone else.

"I already like you." one human female with many tattoes on her body said.

"Why thanks. Can you let me out? I will not shoot lasers from my eyes." I asked. Everyone looked at Shepard concerned. "Or maybe. You never know with all those *gasp* spoooooooky aliens."

"It's your choice, Commander." the female with that orange symbol of Cerberus on her uniform said.

"I guess we won't go anywhere if we won't trust eachother." Shepard concluded and activated the glowy thing on his arm again.

"If by trust you mean risking execution for treason in order to stop a galactic war, then yeah." I chuckled but then looked at him with no humor. "For real though, I want to stop a potential conflict as much as you do. If it means anything, I trust you too."

And at that moment, the weird barrier disappeared and everyone looked at me with anticipation on what I'll do next. I took a deep breath and stepped forward where the barrier used to be. I trusted them. They trusted me. And to think I was going to try and stop a galactic war by working with the terrorists...

I was so dead.

So dead.

 **A/N: Aaaaaand a cliffhanger. First re-written chapter down. Few more to go. I changed the way the whole short conflict began, because it was shit before, and unnatural for Shepard to start it. At least I hope it's more possible that way than it was *ahem* at the beggining. Cerberus has some nice people, but they are generally fascist bastards who want to only empower humanity. They've done a lot of sick stuff to get their hands on the tech that could make them (*ahem* The HUMANITY) stronger. So yeah, a blitz through a seemingly weakly protected colony/minig facility may have appeared to be tempting and effective. Even though they WOULD've sat down to negotiate if the Carvins let them (but they didn't).**

 **Also if you wonder why the Carvins were able to eavesdrop on the Cerberus, here is a simple explanation: Carvins fought the Grox, who are cyborgs, and their computing and cyber-warfare tech was incredibly advanced, in some ways even beating the Council. However, just like with their weapons, Carvins couldn't perfectly replicate this tech, therefore their abilities aren't that strong. It wouldn't have been long before the Cerberus would realize that they were being eavesdropped on (that's the way you write it?). And EDI detected the breach fairly quickly after all. And as for why Virox is that cooperative, well... he has PTSD, he's crazy 'n shit, and doesn't want to repeat the events that left him mentally scarred. Yeah.** **I hope you are satisfied with the explanations. Other info that might help you understand it, is in the next chapters.**

 **I know that this re-write isn't perfect and probably never will be, but at least it is better than what it used to be.**

 **Forgive me for any inconsistencies regarding this chapter and the next few chapters, as this one is the first to be re-written. I'll remove this when all the neccessary chapters are updated and reworked. Thank you for your patience. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	3. Confrontation and talks with the Council

**A/N: ATTENTION: THIS CHAPTER HAS SEEN A MAJOR REWRITE! THERE MAY BE INCONSISTENCIES REGARDING THIS ONE AND A FEW OF THE NEXT ONES. UNTIL THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS ARE REWRITTEN, IGNORE THEM AS I WILL GRADUALLY FIX MORE OF THEM. THIS MESSAGE WILL BE REMOVED AFTER I FINISH REWRITTING ALL CHAPTERS I DEEM NECESSARY.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Guest: As I said in the previous chapter: I've got two stories going on and there is also school to do. Though I'll try to update you as fast as I can.**

 **Akshka: Thanks. I created Virox based on myself. I am mainly cocky and like to joke a lot, but I can be serious if needed and understanding as well. I'm gonna make some funny interactions between him and the crewmembers. Mostly Garrus, because he'll be at the Normandy's guns with him.**

 **Mad Commander: I know and I'm not really proud of it. I really wanted to upload you a knew chapter because of the sudden wave of inspiration. Let's just say that you can justify this like this: either he was so sure that Shepard is going to kill him soon or he is just a really calm S.O.B in situations like that. You might also think that I'm just stupid and I'll take it as well.**

 **Fanfictionfan03: I am happy to hear that. This chapter is going to be full of explosions, angry Carvins and scared Council that's shitting it's pants. It's good that you stayed with us.**

 **Alright. With that being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Shepard's POV**

I deactivated the shield and Virox slowly approached us. He seemed to be relieved, though still quite unsure. I didn't see it before, but it looked like if his hands were fully armored or... made of metal? Completely removing limbs and replacing them with cybernetics was not unheard of, but... depending on the nature of the implants, they could've been illegal.

"Whoa. Thanks, Commander." he said. "I was really sure that you're going to kill me and study my guts after ripping me apart."

"Heh, no. I'm not doing that and I still need to talk with the Illusive Man." I anwsered. "Maybe you might want to see him as well."

"I bet he wants." Jack interrupted. Giving her own hatred for the Cerberus founder, she was probably going to get along with Virox, if he was really angry at the organization too. "I wouldn't reject such offer to bitch at someone like him. Especially after giving an order to attack my people."

Virox nodded and I just rolled my eyes gesturing the new alien to follow me. We were walking in silence and I saw him studying the surroundings and the crew's behavior.

"Damn it, stinks with fear all over the place." he groaned shaking his head and making a strange noise noise.

"You can smell such things?" I asked him. "Is it even possible?"

"Well, it's easy for us Carvins to smell someone's sweat, but there is something that lets us... feel the enemy's fear by a weird feeling in our... nasal cavity." he said a bit embarrased. "We can't really explain that. It feels good though... Turns us on."

"You like the ship so far?" I continued with questions despite my concerns about him enjoying someone else's fear.

"It has... intriguing shape. In our fleet, the corvettes are heavily armed in AA cannons. Their job is mostly shielding the bigger ships from enemy fighters." he replied. "Though they have four batteries of heavy cannons and in big groups they can be a serious threat to a cruiser."

"Seems you have a different ship classification." I assumed.

"Yeah, and that can be a trouble for your allies." Virox commented a bit uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?" I asked as we entered the elevator.

"We studied your ship classification through this 'extranet'. You mainly rely on the main gun, which cannot move by itself. Its aiming completely depends on the ship's maneuverability" he said it as it was something really serious. "Meanwhile, all of our bigger ships have their heavy cannons on the each side making them able to shoot forward, right, left, up and down. It's mostly effective in quick ramming the enemy fleet with the frigates and cruisers, or when flanking."

I nodded and the rest of the way we were both silent. Finally we entered the comm room.

"EDI, patch me to the Illusive Man." I ordered.

"The Illusive Man?" Virox asked. "Well, that's interesting."

The table was hidden making a floor and I stepped inside the scanner range. After a while, the Illusive Man was shown on his famous chair.

"Shepard. Was the mission succesful?" he asked after inhaling some smoke from his cigarette.

"You might want to direct this question not to me, but to the Carvins who now pursue us." I replied coldly.

"I do not approve the methods that the commander in charge of our ships took, but we cannot do anything about it now." Cerberus leader replied calmly.

"Fuck you, old man!" Virox suddenly interrupted after jumping into the range of the scanner showing him the middle finger. "I don't want to have anything to do with you. I'll be with Shepard for now and then... we'll see. But let me assure you that 'we'll see' will probably involve me sticking a grenade so far up your ass, that you'll die before it even explodes!"

"Oh, so that's how you look. And you DO know some of our gestures." he smiled, though it was more of an evil smile than a kind one. "I didn't expect that."

"I'm starting to appreciate this whole 'preparation for a diplomatic incident' crap that our command gave us." the Carvin replied, still insisting to be bluntly honest. "Makes insulting you and general communication much easier. I'd like to kill you already, but... the distance. It makes it harder."

"There are more important things to worry about now." I interrupted their discussion. "We are heading towards the Citadel and one of the strongest fleets, as Virox said, is chasing us."

"I am sure that they'll flee from the Citadel defense fleets." the Illusive Man assured us.

"Oh then you never met High General Seviros." Virox replied sharply. "He's a tough S.O.B. and never flees without at least putting up a short fight."

"And how strong is his fleet?" Cerberus leader asked.

"None of your freakin' business, but it's strong enough to kick your ass." the Carvin soldier snapped.

"Maybe we should focus less on comparing notes and more on solving the problem we have on our hands?" I desperately tried to shift their attention from killing eachother. "If we don't stop this, we might get a repeat from the Battle of the Citadel."

"The Council will not listen to Cerberus. They don't trust us and we don't expect them to. But they might listen to you. Your Spectre status was reinstated after all." Illusive Man said and inhaled his cigarette. "Inform me of the results of the confrontation when it ends."

With that he ended the transmission. I sighed and gestured Virox to follow me. He obeyed though he seemed to be more cautious now.

"Where are we going?" he asked while continuing to examine the ship.

"To the cockpit. I'm sure that Joker would like to see you with your sense of humor." I explained as we passed through the Lab. "And it's the best place to send a signal from."

The Carvin soldier was now looking at the every crew member when we passed them and from time to time, he was shaking his head as if he was sneezing. However it didn't take long before we reached the cockpit, where my pilot quickly heard us coming.

"Holy crap, Commander." Joker turned around on his seat. "You've already convinced the new, weird guy to work with us?"

"I was not convinced to do anything yet." Virox anwsered quickly. "I just want to help your fleets in not being dead just like you didn't kill me. I have my honor."

"Alright, alright. Though, holy shit! I saw some of your ships leaving the FTL and one of them was massive!" the pilot said excitedly. "And they tore through Cerberus like thin air."

"You're correct." he replied mischievously, though I wasn't sure what he was referring to. "But I must say that you are flying this corvette pretty nice."

"It's a frigate!" Joker replied with outrage which seemed to be Virox's objective. "How can you disrespect my precious ship like that?"

"Uh, they have a different ship classification." I explained quickly to avoid any other 'misunderstanding'.

"Really, and how big are frigates and dreadnoughts in your fleet?" he asked.

"Frigates are from 400 to 500 meters and dreadnoughts from 1,5 kilometers to 3." Virox replied. "Depends on the variants, and our older dreadnoughts are being refurbished into newer and bigger models."

"HOLY SHIT, man!" my pilot's expression was a mix of shock and total fear. "What giants do you build? And your tanks are the size of a ship?"

"Uh no. Tanks are up to 10 meters long depending on variants and are 3 meters high, including the turrets." the Carvin said seemingly enjoying the conversation. "And why holy shit? I don't know about your customs, but glorifying your feces seems like a pretty weird idea for a religion."

"..." Joker didn't say anything and I was grateful. Though this nice atmosphere vanished as we left the FTL and were approaching the Citadel now.

"Better get that comm ready, Virox." I warned the alien. "Otherwise your friends are going to make us join the first Normandy."

"That is NOT funny, Commander." Joker wasn't amused. As if we conjured it, EDI spoke.

"Shepard, the Carvin fleet has entered the system. I have counted 3 dreadnought-sized ships, 2 ships probably acting as aircraft carriers, about 6 cruisers, 12 frigates and 16 corvettes." she informed. "All according to the Virox's scale."

"That's defianetely Seviros." the Carvin soldier sighed. The Normandy shaked as they opened fire. "It seems that your friends have spotted mine."

He was right. The Citadel fleet was now slowly approaching us. But then a blue beam of energy suddenly passed dangerously close to the ship's hull.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Joker was now pulling off some really weird maneuvers to evade the attacks. "Did you guys take the tech from the Reapers?"

"What's a Reaper?" Virox asked with confusion. "Maybe it's the translator, but I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Just focus on contacting with your command." I ordered.

"Ha, and you try to keep us alive, Commander." he grinned and activated the communicator.

'This is going to be a not nice meeting.' I thought as the Citadel fleet was hastily scrambling to fend off the incoming force. Apparently they took Virox's friends as hostiles when they opened fire at them.

 **Virox's POV**

This whole situation was a mess. Seviros probably bumped himself into the biggest concentration of ships in the galaxy. I just didn't know who to be scared for: Shepard's friends or my friends.

This 'Joker' pilot turned us towards the main dreadnought, 'The Relentless'. Though the ship's name might suggest our hostile approach, Seviros was hell of a diplomat. But it's weapon systems were still deadly and we were about to test their strength.

"You've got any signal, Virox?" Shepard asked.

"Trying, but your comms aren't compatibile with our systems." I anwsered him still trying to establish connection. "We must get closer so the effects are nullified!"

"That is what I was afraid of." Joker sighed and we suddenly dived towards the ship's bridge.

"NO! Not towards the-!" I tried to warn him, but it was too late. The defence beam right on top of the command tower hit the ship badly. "-bridge!"

"OH SHIT!" Joker screamed as the beam left a cut on the main hull. But he seemed surprised that we were still flying. "We're alive!? But they cut right through our barriers! Oh crap, I better not waste this second chance!"

I ignored him, mainly because the hit didn't affect me that much. Magnetic locks in my cybernetic implants almost completely nullified the effect of this hit. Instead I was focused on getting that connection established.

Work damn it! Come on!' I was begging the device as I caught the signal, but no one was responding. Unfortunately Joker drew attention of a fighter squadron on us.

"Is it enough!?" he yelled as the small ships started to chase us and thin beams of energy could be seen from time to time.

"Actually, you just left the effective range!" I shouted back.

"Stop talking and get to work!" Shepard cut the chatter.

And he was right as one of the very high, purple ship was blasted into pieces. It was a cruiser-sized ship, though I was afraid that we took out a dreadnought as they had different scale than us. Our frigates unfortunately got between the enemy ships and the close-ranged fight began which didn't mean too well for the Shepard's friends.

"Holy crap!" Joker couldn't shut up. "Your friends are tearing apart the Asari fleet!"

I just rolled my eyes and tried to establish connection again. We were in the effective range.

"Come on, come on!" I urged on the device. As if I called it, the static started to get quieter and the connection was established.

"This is a secured channel. Carvin ships are currently engaged in active combat." Communication officer said. "State the reason of this call."

"This is specialist Virox Ri'Kaan!" I yelled into the device. Might think that I was overreacitng, but I didn't care. "You all need to STOP FIRING! This whole damn thing is a misunderstanding! I was not abducted! You're risking war with the entire galaxy here!"

"... Specialist Virox, you're reported MIA, send in the clearance codes." Officer replied and I started to hate the fact that the rules were imposed this strictly.

"You can scan my comm device for goodness sake! I am on this corvette-sized ship that got hit by the defensive laser beam!" I tried to make this quick. "Patch me to Seviros!"

There was a short period of silence which felt like forever, but then the response came. "Patching you through."

After a second of static, the connection returned to its stable state. Now I was speaking to the bloody High General, so if I fucked this up, I'd be court-martialed... if I managed to survive this battle.

"Specialist Virox, I'm glad you're alive. We'll try to get you-" Seviros started, but I quickly interrupted.

"I'm sorry for being disrespectful now, sir. All of this attack was a misunderstanding! The ships attacked against the commander's will! I was NOT abducted! The ship that you're targeting has tried to assist me, but we both took it as a hostile move. They DO NOT WISH TO FIGHT US!" I tried to explain. "Stop firing at the ship designed 'Normandy'! I am on board! We can stop it!"

"Copy that! All ships, hold your fire!" General fortunately understood what I meant all along. "I give the opposing force 30 seconds to cease fire. After that we'll continue the assault and request reinforcements."

"Roger that!" I ended the transmission then turned towards Shepard. "Commander! You've got 30 seconds to make your friends calm down! Otherwise the massacre will continue and Seviros will bring a shit-ton of reinforcements!"

"Alright. EDI, patch me to the fleet leaders. I'll pass orders electronically with Spectre authority." Shepard replied and soon all of the signal signatures could be seen. He activated this weird, orange, glowy thing that was probably some kind of portable computer, then clicked a few times on it, and soon all of the signatures beeped, indicating that the message was sent.

Now it was a moment of truth. I didn't know what the hell was up with the 'Spectre authority', but if it worked, I decided I won't really ask. With each second passed, I could smell the sweat of both Joker and Shepard more clearly. They were scared, but I couldn't blame them. I was terrified to be honest. However slowly all of the ships started to cease fire. As the given thirty seconds were coming to an end, the last projectile was fired right at the 28th second. After that all guns went silent.

"Whew! That was so close." Joker exhaled with relief and lied down on his chair. He closed his eyes and I could smell the radiating from his body.

"I am detecting a high amount of adrenaline in your body, Jeff." their AI spoke. "I would suggest you to rest for a while. I can pilot the ship if you give me permission."

"Over my dead body!" he immediately woke up and directed the Normandy towards the giant space station that had five giant arms.

'How the hell did they build such thing?' I wondered. 'A shipyard of this size would give us a crap ton of possiblities.'

Joker took us towards the station and I saw one of our corvettes escorted by at least four fighter squadrons. It was probably High General Seviros flying on 'diplomatic meeting'. I was wondering how the leaders of this station would react.

'I just hope it will not end with another war. I had enough of those for one lifetime.' I let out a sigh. It was still good that both fleets didn't continue to blow eachother up, because there were probably reinforcements on the way and we could end up with the major fleet destroyed. But now the only thing that mattered was to solve this as peacefully as possible.

 **Shepard's POV**

It seemed like a miracle that all of the people listened to me for ONCE. Honestly, I haven't felt so good about something like this since... ever. Though I wasn't really thinking about it now. What was on my mind was the strength of the Carvin forces.

'If Joker is right about them being connected to the Reapers, I'll be damned.' I thought, but something wasn't right. That beam hit the Normandy and it should rip her wing off, but it didn't happen.

"Virox, what are your ships shooting with these beams?" I asked. "Because it doesn't seem like a liquid metal (A/N: Reaper beams really shoot liquid metal containing a huge amount of kinetic energy due to the speed)."

"No... what kind of weapon is that? Isn't it just better to use plasma then?" he sounded surprised. "We're using energy weapons for all defensive systems. Oh and by the way, can I get my gun back?"

"I promise I'll let you have your gun back, but can we please deal with the possible war we have on our hands right now?" I almost begged, though my thoughts were revolving around what he said. So these weren't some kind of superpowered Thanix guns. Also they were far too weak. When that beam hit them, it went right through Normandy's kinetic barriers, but didn't obliterate the ship in the process.

'Were they using a highly advanced laser tech?' I thought while recalling the images of the battle. Their ships cut right through barriers, and seeing as the only known way to do that is with energy-based weapons, the answer seemed obvious. But none of the known lasers could fire effectively on such range.

"Am I the only one who is still not quite satisfied by his answer?" Joker asked for no reason.

"No." I admitted truthfully, then headed towards the airlock with Virox following close behind. "But right now we need to keep this from escalating again. I'm going down there to see this."

"Take pictures!" he said and lowered his pilot cap so that it covered his eyes, then fell asleep.

I ignored him and left the ship. After a while I realized that I heard steps behind me. I turned around to see the entire team and a few crewmembers eager to see the confrontation. No one could blame them though. When Carvin corvette approached one of the docking bays, many civilians started to gather around to meet the aliens, even though C-Sec was already setting up blockades with their modified skycars and police lines, while the armed officers were providing additional security.

Carvin ship was slowly closing on the docking tube of the Citadel docks. Its weapons were moving, following any vehicle movement. Now I could see how different their approach was to weapons. Just like Virox said, only two fixed dual (probably) laser cannons were facing forward. Other weapon emplacements were completely turreted and most of them could turn 360 degrees around. This only made these ships more dangerous. They didn't have to be more agile than the ships of their enemies. Just faster than the enemy could track them. If all vehicles of the Carvin navy had such construction... well, this brought a completely new approach to space combat.

When the vessel docked, it was already surrounded by at least two squads of C-Sec officers. The door of the airlock slid open with a hiss, and it revealed several figures coming out. I counted five: four in full armor which made them look like lifeless androids, and one who had multiple medals on his chest and something different on his head that could only be compared to human equivalent of officer cap. Probably the leader, the general that Virox spoke about.

I didn't wait long and quickly tried to catch up to the small group which was walking through the corridor created by the C-Sec officers. For one moment my eyes met the eyes of the leader and I immediately felt what kind of person I was dealing with. In his eyes I saw determination, ruthlessness towards those he deemed his enemies, but also pain and will to protect his people. A leader with experience.

They walked towards the checkpoint where a group of officers tried to stop them.

"We request an audience with the representatives of your goverment." Geneal stated with voice cold as vaccum. However I soon noticed that C-Sec officers were looking at eachother in confusion and I realized something. Virox gave me language data for my translator. They didn't understand what he said, so I quickly joined in.

"Wait! He's requesting audience with... I guess the Council." I tried to prevent any more misunderstanding. The Carvin soldiers at first reacted by pointing their weapons at him, but their general stopped them by raising his hand. I activated my omni-tool and sent the translation data to the officers as well. "Here, it should enable an effective communication."

"Uh... thanks." A turian officer said quite confused. "But we still don't have the authority to let them in."

"Spectre authorization." I quickly sent the codes confirming my status and the second officer that was human nodded his head then opened the door. I quickly added "And make sure to send this data to the Council with the message that the new race requests an audience."

The Carvin general looked at me again, but this time I noticed something around gratitude and appreciation. At least there was no open hostility radiating from him now. When the door opened, Carvin group walked through with me right behind them.

"You seem to know this place well, human." General suddenly spoke as I caught up with them. "I would be grateful if you could lead us to your representatives."

"Under one condition." I said with resolve I didn't even know I still had. "Try to not cause a galactic war."

"No promises, but I will try." he replied, his tone suggesting that he was amused by my request. Or maybe I just misinterpreted the change of tone.

As they asked, I led them to Citadel tower through the elevator that connected it directly with the Presidium and the Wards. It took longer than with a skycar, but at least they all fit in. About halfway to our objective I realized that Virox was still following us, though he didn't say a word. Nevertheless we finally reached the Citadel tower, and when the doors of the tram opened, Carvins left, marching in perfect unison up the stairs and towards the Council. I looked far forward and saw they were already waiting. Four figures, each taking place behind one of respective consoles. Anderson, whom I chose to be the Humanity's councilor was now gazing at the incoming Carvins as well as people who gathered around to watch. History was going to be made to day. For better or worse.

Carvin soldiers finally stopped and made way for their leader. General stepped forward and took the place I, Anderson and Udina often took two years ago when we tried to stop Saren.

"What reason do you have to come here, barbarians?" Turian councilor, Sparatus asked first. He was the most aggressive politician of the whole Council, though if I had to be honest, Udina could easily beat him by a long shot.

"Well that's not a nice thing to say to someone who decided to spare your ships." Carvin general replied with what I could only assume was a smirk. "I am High General Seviros of the Carvin Empire. And I have come here to prevent further hostilities between our people and... the rest of galactic community."

With that he looked at me, which made me feel a little bit more hopeful. If this meeting would continue to go like this, there was a chance we could walk away and... maybe not forget this ever happened, but at least start a peaceful coexistence.

"I am going to ask politely, despite a different approach of my associates." Anderson tried to play the diplomat. "Why did you come here and attack our fleets?"

"We did not attack your fleets." Seviros quickly interrupted. "We attacked a ship that is a property of a terrorist organization known as Cerberus, along with the small flotilla that we destroyed after it engaged our own vessels." This reply caused a bit of commotion from the civilians who watched the whole thing play out. They apparently downloaded the translation data already. "Cerberus attacked our vessels near the newly established mining facility. We destroyed them when the ship designated as 'Normandy Sr-2' entered the system. They took aboard one of our disabled fighters with one of our soldiers still alive inside. In our opinion this was a clear act of aggression as we thought they abducted one of our people. Thankfully our soldier reassured us this wasn't the case."

"The soldier has a name." Virox suddenly appeared next to me and blurted out seemingly for no reason. One of the soldiers who was standing nearby quickly approached him and smacked him in the head. "OW! Asshole!"

"So you attacked a Council vessel." Sparatus said, but Seviros shook his head and let out repeated growls which I assumed was their equivalent of laughter.

"As far as our intelligence knows, Normandy Sr-2 is not designated as a ship of ANY major power that is a part of this 'Citadel space'. On the contrary, this ship was apparently built and fully founded by Cerberus." He replied. "Unless you somehow associate yourself with the terrorists, which I highly doubt."

"So you have discovered the extranet." Salarian councilor, Valern said, not hiding a hint of surprise. "And we haven't encountered your activity yet."

"You have a lot of catching up to do. We not only discovered, but also studied this 'extranet' of yours. We already know the history of this community, major powers, current political climate, and much more."

"Why then did you decide to stay hidden? A mutual cooperation could've been more beneficial for all of us than this... unfortunate encounter." Asari councilor, Tevos, who stayed silent until now, asked.

"We thought we needed some time to prepare. Our people have been given short cultural guides, and our army was prepared for any accidental encounter with your forces." Seviros explained and looked at Virox. "That is partially the reason why this entire situation didn't escalate to a war both sides wouldn't want."

"Yes, thank goodness, at least I knew how to insult the Illusive Man with proper human customs." Virox added, and I had to stop myself from cringing. Then the same soldier who hit him before BITCH SLAPPED him so hard, Virox did a 360 degree spin, but managed to maintain balance. He must've been too dazed to say anything.

"You seem pretty confident despite seemingly being against war." Sparatus pointed out and I really wanted him to shut up. When I was trying to prove him the existence of the Reapers, even throwing the damn corpse of Sovereign was not enough. He still dismissed my claim. But when he saw a threat, he was the first to seemingly put down the 'too hotheaded' species. Like Humans or in this situation Carvins.

"Knowing that our military industry is bigger than yours, as well as we were not bound by the 'Treaty of Farixen' up until now, I'd say we have a good chance, also given the fact that over 95% of our territory is beyond the range of your so-called 'Mass Relays'." Seviros' changed his expression to what was probably a grin. "Although we don't have such a big economy, I think we could deal significant damage to your military capability."

"You travel without the Mass Relays?" Valern asked now with obvious curiosity.

"And you think that you can even compete us?" Sparatus added (completely unnecessarily).

"Yes and yes. From what I've read myself, your forces suffered significant losses in a few recent events. Those are... let me see..." Seviros clicked something on the side of his head and a visor appeared from under his helmet covering his left eye. "First is the Krogan Rebellions, next is the Relay 314 Incident (even though it was brief), and finally is the fairly recent Battle of the Citadel."

"You do realize that we haven't been stagnant with our military during these periods." Anderson pointed out, even though Humanity joined the Council races fairly recently.

"True, but we didn't have conflicts constantly lowering our military strength quite a bit." Seviros replied.

"You speak that you're peaceful, but you're quite open with the thought that you can fight us. This isn't a doctrine of peace." Councilor Tevos said, which actually caught my attention. Carvins indeed did what she said.

"And this is the moment where your morals and point of view differ from ours." Carvin High General sighed, seemingly suspecting that this moment would come. "Our approach to this conversation in this particular way is determined by a few objectives I had from the beggining of this meeting. The first one being that we do not fear you. Sure, you can be bigger than us, but eventually it will be a stimulus our Empire will need to start competing with you in order to catch up. Nothing abnormal in that. All of the races constantly compete to become bigger powerhouses, whether military, political, or economical. You will treat us seriously and that's what we want. Second, we want to be open, or as much open as we can afford. It builds trust after all, doesn't it? And third, Virox probably told everything to your supposedly dead Commander Shepard."

"I DID NOT!" he shouted and the soldier next to him was about to give him the slap of the f*ing century, but he caught his hand milimeters from his face. "Gotcha bitch!"

Soldier didn't care much and used his free hand to punch him again, this time in the stomach.

"Do you treat all of your soldiers like this?" Anderson asked, pretty confused about Seviros' treatment of his soldiers.

"No, I only treat soldiers that I've known for long enough they won't bother that much like that." Carvin replied, but quickly added. "And those who are overly talkative."

"He's not wrong." Virox muttered from the floor. "And I seriously prefer this kind of punishment than court-martial."

I realized that I couldn't hold it any longer and needed to ask about their weapons. While they could simply refuse to tell me anything, it was worth a try..

"General Seviros? Can I ask you something?" I approached a bit closer and looked at the Carvin representative.

"It's High General, but what do you want to know?" His two guards stepped aside creating some space between me and him as he looked at me.

"Do your ships really use lasers as their main armament?"

"Yes and not only our ships, but almost all of our weapons are energy-based. We even use energy shielding." Seviros said. "Although our heavy munitions are still quite traditional."

"Impossible. No race has developed laser so advanced to be effective on the range you were using them." Sparatus looked quite uneasy.

"Only high-powered ultraviolet lasers can be used as effective armaments in space. However they're expensive and don't have quite the effective range like those you used." Valern added. Giving his species' almost fanatical obsession with science, I wasn't surprised.

"We first discovered laser technology from a wreckage of an alien ship that crashed on our homeworld." Seviros replied and instantly grabbed everyone's attention. "We didn't really develop it as it was very advanced for our time. But a few centuries after we discovered it and tried to heavily colonize our home system, a race of cyborgs who called themselves The Grox invaded us and nearly wiped us out. By a miracle we drove them back and focused on rebuilding and expanding ever since. From them we also salvaged improved laser tech from their ships and ground equipment."

When he finished everyone was silent for a while. No one ever heard of a race called The Grox. Hell, no one encountered a race of cyborgs yet. I was trying to analyze the data but I couldn't get anything from it.

"The Grox..." Turian councilor said, not hiding the fact that he wasn't quite convinced. "And we're supposed to believe it?"

"Well, I didn't expect you to. I mean it's kind of your thing recently." Seviros grinned.

"What do you mean by that?" Councilor Tevos asked.

"The Sovereign's involvment with the Geth, the Battle of Citadel, the Reapers, vanishing human colonies... should I continue?" he asked and I could feel the mockery in his voice. His anwser actually grabbed my attention.

"What does it even-" Sparatus was about to say something but Seviros interrupted him.

"I mean how blind do you have to be to notice an incredible difference in design of the ship that led the Geth to the Citadel and other Geth vessels?"

"Uh, can someone explain it to me? Because I don't get this entire Reaper thing." Virox asked innocently.

Fortunately his Carvin colleagues didn't punch him again. Instead Anderson ,who kept quiet for a while, activated his omni-tool and brought up the recording of the Geth fleet attacking the Citadel with Sovereign leading the assault. Virox stared at the video for a while... then shook his head in disbelief.

"Are... You... Fucking... SERIOUS?" He almost screamed the last word. Before the councilors could comment on that sentence he continued. "HOW FREAKING BLIND YOU HAVE TO BE TO NOT SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN SHIP DESIGN!?"

"Specialist Virox, stand down." Seviros ordered, but the Carvin didn't care.

"I MEAN CAN'T YOU EVEN SEE THE COLOUR DIFFERENCE, THE RED GLOWING AND RED BEAMS?" He continued ranting as if what he was saying was obvious... and it was.

"Geth are AI. They are capable of remarkable technological advancements." Asari councilor said with eternal calmness.

"Well, I didn't know that Geth were into tentacles that shoot lasers." Virox continued, this time with his normal voice, still looking visibly angry. "From what little I managed to browse on the extranet, I thought the Humans would be the ones to come up with that idea. Or the Hanar, because they have tentacles."

When he finished the room fell silent. I didn't even know what to say, though I had a very good idea of what he was talking about. Unfortunately the infamous tentacle hentai was yet to vanish from the Human culture. How he managed to find out about this I had no idea... it stunned me though.

"We will... take your thoughts into consideration." Salarian councilor finally broke the silence. "But it still leaves the question of your race."

"In my opinion a careful cooperation will be the best course of action." Seviros said. "We don't know eachother too much, even though we were analyzing your extranet. Not much can be done by force. The only thing we request is an embassy on this station, since it's the center of galactic politics. We want to be up to date with what is going on and have a saying in this."

"You're demanding much. I think that you have to learn your place." Sparatus said and I immediately felt anger. The very same sentence was directed to me two years ago when we were hunting Saren, however it was the rogue Spectre that said it to me. Nevertheless I could relate to the growling Carvin soldiers who were now glaring at the Turian councilor with what I could only assume was pure hate.

"And I think you need your ego knocked down a peg or two... or ten." Seviros snapped back.

"What are you-" Turian councilor was about to say something but the Carvin interrupted him yet again.

"You have gone through your history almost undefeated. You were made the sword and the shield of this Citadel. No foe was too strong for you." he continued with his thought. "Hell, if the Council didn't stop you, you'd try to wipe humanity from existence because they dared to liberate their colony. You think of yourselves as invincible. But such approach will only make it more painful when you realize you're not. The narrative that you can dictate the other races of where they should stand and how they should act is going to hurt not only you but this entire community. Someday they will have enough and rebel. And despite your military power, you won't be able to stop them." He then glared at Sparatus in a way that if the looks could kill, Turian councilor would cease to exist. "So let me make this clear. Don't think you're in the center of the universe, because you're not."

...

...

...

"How about we give them the embassy on the Citadel and talk it out calmly, not with two fleets in front of eachother ready to blow up one another?" Anderson asked and miraculously no one objected.

"Yes. Tensions are high with all the ships above. We might get to understand eachother when we remove the cause." Salarian councilor added. "Meaning the fleets, not the Carvins."

"If you really insist on getting along, which I don't really disapprove, then I can be the first one to go on a cultural exchange." Virox blurted out yet again. "I mean I saw Shepard and his crew so... I guess I could stay with them? Maybe?"

It looked like one of Seviros' soldiers was about to slap the heck out of him, but the High General stopped him right before the fist connected with Virox's face.

"I think this is a brilliant idea." he said, surprising everyone. "However, if you leak any important info, you WILL be court-martialled. And if you have any problems, you can contact us."

"Then it is settled. This meeting is adjourned." Asari councilor stated and for the first time I really looked forward to her saying this.

Seviros took his soldiers back to the ship, while I was heading back to the Normandy with Virox and the gang that came here to watch. I had no idea how this managed to go without one side obliterating the other, but thank God it did. When we were at the airlock, I had to ask Virox something.

"Virox? Is it just me or you seem different than other Carvins?"

"What, you mean they have a giant stick up their ass?" Virox asked back. "Oh well, it's the PTSD. War trauma. I kind of just fight it with humor that no one seems to appreciate. I still have flashbacks 'n shit, but you can count on me. I won't let you down."

"Good to know." I nodded.

"Also, you were right about this Council. They are soooooo oblivious. Don't force me to talk to them anymore." He added.

"You were the one adding your three cents every now and then." I pointed out. "But I'll try."

And with that we went through the airlock and back on the Normandy. It was time to continue saving Humanity from the Collectors, now with unexpected help from unexpected friend.

 **A/N: Done! I hope that you like the chapter and the story so far. Let me know what you think in the reviews. As for the whole shape of this fanfiction, I'm not planning on copying the entire game here. It would take me too long and wouldn't make any sense. If you're reading this, it means you probably saw the game before. Therefore I'm going to be writting on how Virox interacts with the crewmembers, his participation in major missions, as well as some politics regarding the Carvin Empire and Council Races. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	4. Settling in and a new friend

**A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for not updating much for this time, but I must tell you that I am trying to not rush with writting, otherwise it goes as shitty as in the second chapter (yeah, that was a pure crap if talking about language and mistakes :/). Also I had some lack of inspiration for some time, but I'm back on track :)**

 **Reviews:**

 **Akshka: I will, don't worry :D**

 **Fanfictionfan03: I understood and appreciate everything, but the 'well-written' part surprised me. I was expecting you all to bitch at me for a crap ton of mistakes in the previous chapters. Not that I don't appreciate your compliments, but I wasn't really proud of the first chapters. I am even planning on rewritting them :D. Although you are flattering me so much with the last part. It's the second time someone wrote I am awesome, though I am not even a great english speaker ^.^**

 **Dodles: Let me put it this way: it's the exact opposite of your way of thinking. If you're interested in creating theories on Carvin history, feel free, because there are a lot of mysteries that I'll explain. In short explanation: They are not evolving, they will not evolve and they NEVER evolved before :D**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Shepard's POV**

We came back to the Normandy and when we closed the airlock, a well known voice welcomed us.

"Commander, I was seeing what was going on there. I must say that Council got totally roasted." Joker laughed.

"Agreed. And there is a chance that finally someone will belive what we say about the Reapers." I nodded. "It seems that they consider it as something bigger than just legends or myths."

"And Virox agreed to stay with us as an... ambassador?" Garrus couldn't find a good word.

"Let's just say I am here because Carvin Empire sees you as a bridge between the races of this 'Citadel' and them." Carvin replied. "I am just glad that you didn't kill me."

"Alright, so where we gonna put you?" I asked.

"I'd prefer somewhere with guns. Big guns." he said.

"Umm, ok." Garrus shivered a bit.

"Well, you need to share the room of the main guns with Garrus. He was first." I explained.

"I have no problem with that. In the military we sometimes needed to share a 8x8 meter room between five." he chuckled. "So would you mind showing me the room where I'll be staying?"

"Ok, follow me." turian walked towards the elevator and our new friend after him.

"I still don't trust that God damn alien abomination." Zaeed mumbled.

"Why? Because he kicked your ass?" I joked.

"No, because he won't die easily." he replied. "And everything that is hard to kill deserves more attention."

"Well, tell that to Council. Shepard won't die anytime soon." Joker laughed.

"Let's just hope that they get along." I sighed looking at two aliens entering the elevator.

 **Virox's POV**

I went to the elevator with this Garrus. He seemed uneasy, but I couldn't be surprised. I threatened him with kicking his ass after all.

"Always have been a sniper?" I asked him.

"Well, not always. I started my career at C-Sec." he said. "The security of the Citadel. But bureaucracy was limiting my arsenal. That's also why I joined Shepard. How about you? Who are you in the military?"

"Um, technically I have Specialist rank. But for the guys who are directly under the command of a High General there are some certain privileges." I replied. "For example I have a right to fly a fighter without being a qualified pilot. We all recieve a quick course of basic training. Though my military career was only full of fighting at the beggining."

"Isn't it always?" he chuckled and opened the door at the very end of the big hallway. "There we are."

I looked around. There were some systems around, but most of the room was filled with barrels of big guns. Just the way I like it.

"Hmm nice spot you have here, Garrus." I commented and saw him already going to a terminal. "What? Already getting to work?"

"I need to do some calibrations. That's my little... hobby." he said and I saw that he wasn't paying attention anymore.

"Hey, don't be so anti-social." I moaned and an idea appeared in my head. "I still owe you ass kicking."

Just when I spoke these words, he stopped.

"Alright, alright. Pick the topic for a talk." he turned around.

"What were you doing with Shepard all this time?" I asked him. "You must've been doing something if his name is praised all over the damn extranet. I even found something about mysterious turian sniper called 'Archangel'."

"Heh, we were chasing the rogue Spectre. Spectres are an elite group of operatives under the command of the Council." he told me. "But to the point. We had some crazy adventures. We fought giant insects, asari comandos, army of synthetics and a giant ship that was a Reaper."

"Reaper. You mentioned it before. What is it?" I was curious.

"It's a sentient machine. One was named Sovereign and almost summoned thousands of his friends through the Citadel." Garrus said.

"How could he do that?" it didn't make much sense.

"Well, the Citadel is a big mass relay itself." Garrus explained. "How about you? What were your first steps in the military?"

I hesitated. Recalling these events were the last thing I wanted to do. But I sighed and started.

"When we thought that our fleet is at it's Golden Era, a fleet of cyborgs attacked us. They were far more advanced than us and claimed that they want to 'reclaim what is theirs'." I really tried not to stutter. "I was 24 when I joined the military and learned how to shoot."

"It's not bad, right?" Garrus asked. "I mean the age."

"When you live over a thousand years?" I said sarcastically. "I was barely an adult."

"Oh." he looked ashamed now.

"Anyway, we lost our two bases on one planet and the moon in two days. 'The Grox', because that's how they wanted to be called, started to bombard our homeworld and soon, there was almost no heavy resistance on the Carvistorn."

"That's not very nice, I guess." Garrus chuckled.

"When you are on the verge of extinction? No." I laughed. "During one battle, me and my squad gave enough time for the civilians to escape and I was promoted to a Specialist, but then-" I tried to say it, but it seemed like the words were stuck in my throat. "We were defending the capital city from Grox forces under the command of General Seviros."

"Let me guess." turian interrupted seemingly knowing how would it end. "The defense broke."

"No. Both defense and the attack broke." my voice was weak now. "The Grox launched an anti-matter bomb that killed over 60 milions of our soldiers. These damn cyborgs killed all of us and their ground forces without a hesitation. They died... and I live to see another day." I stuttered now. "Who is choosing this?"

"I know how you feel, or at least something similar to it." he said.

"How so?" I couldn't belive that he would feel anything as painful as this.

"I lost my squad. Because one of my squadmates betrayed us." he sighed and I didn't know what to think about it. Betrayal was the worst thing that could get you. "And it's all because I haven't predicted it."

"I see." my head was full of thoughts. "And your squad was nice?"

"Yeah, but after their death, there is one member still alive who is hiding somewhere." Garrus said and I had an idea.

"So I guess we can stop trying to kill eachother and be friends."

Turian seemed surprised by such offer, but we quickly shook our hands. He looked relieved and this stupid smell of stress couldn't be smelled anymore.

"So, now you can teach me something about 'calibrations'." I said and both of us laughing approached the terminal.

 **Shepard's POV**

Being back on the ship was nice. It was quiet and there was no Council that wouldI was just going through the CIC when Kelly stopped me.

"Commander, I think you might want to see this." she pointed on her terminal and I approached it. After a while, a screen was filled with the feed from the camera.

"No, you're doing it wrong!" Garrus sounded angry. "You just lowered the accuracy by .47 percent!"

"Well, then teach me how to calibrate on something smaller than giant guns that we depend on!" Virox was standing at the terminal and laughed. "For example your sniper rifle."

"NO! You're not touching it!" turian immediately grabbed his gun in fear.

"It seems that they're having fun." I said.

"Yes, but... aren't they gonna break anything?" Kelly wasn't sure.

"I'll go talk to them. Just in case." I headed towards the elevator. After a moment, I was standing in front of the door and there could be heard some laughs from behind it. "Here it goes."

I opened the door and both Garrus and Virox were leaning on the walls in uncontrolable laughter.

"Oh, commander! We were just joking here about certain things." turian immediately started to explain.

"Salarians should eat flies! Why won't they do that?" his Carvin friend asked, but then his expression turned serious. "Wait, I have a call from Seviros."

He pulled out a small disk that started to levitate. After a while six figures showed up. They were all Carvins and probably high-ranked militaries.

"Specialist Virox?" one of them said. "We would like to have a talk with this commander you've joined."

"Yes sir! Actually, he just entered the room." Virox saluted.

"Indeed. Is there any particular reason why you wanted to contact me?" I asked all of the Carvins.

"Yes, but for time of this call we must be alone." one of them replied.

"I can give the commander my communicator and he'll go to his private cabin for a talk." Virox suggested.

"Alright." all Carvins nodded while he passed me the disk. I left the room and headed towards the elevator. Through all the way I was wondering what could they want from me.

When I was in my room, I dropped the disk on the ground and it quickly flew back up showing all six figures again.

"So what do you want from me?" I asked.

"Your Council isn't very interested in giving us information about these Reapers you were talking about." one of them said. "We respect the soldiers even more than politicians, because most of them put good of the people over their own benefit."

"Uh, I can send you some data and my personal opinions about them." I scratched the back of my head. "The only thing that I know for sure is that the Reapers attacked this galaxy over and over following some kind of cycle."

"Interesting." one Carvin nodded.

"Seviros, are you sure that this is true?" his friend interrupted.

"Our race almost went extinct because of the Grox." Seviros replied sharply. "If that could happen, then I guess there can be worse things."

"You talked these 'Grox' before. Virox also mentioned them. " I pointed out. "Who or what are they?"

"Let's make a deal. You'll send us the data on the Reapers and we'll give you information that we gathered on the Grox." Seviros suggested. "Objections?"

Other High Generals shaked their heads as no and I felt a bit relieved, but didn't know why. Maybe it was just a really crazy day.

"Anything else that you want from me?" I asked.

"Only a little thing to let you know." one of the generals spoke. "We took some of your so called 'wolves' and tried to experiment on them along with varrens. The results are promising and the creatures can be very dangerous in big groups. If you'd like a pet, we welcome you on the Carvistorn space station. It will be free."

"Uh, thanks." I smiled weakly and they ended the transmission. "A pet? Seems nice. Fish aren't super interesting anyway. And he could make a good companion."

I left my cabin and headed back towards the elevator. When the door opened, my eyes saw something that they shouldn't be seeing.

"Ah, I wish you had some ryncol." Grunt grunted holding a bottle of something.

"Hey, be happy with what you have!" Virox held a bottle as well. I was surprised of how he didn't spill it's content all over the floor, because his mouth was different than in the other races. "This is my fifth and I feel like I could do this all day."

"You're ok. And why God damn it I was punching you back then?" Zaeed was on the floor mumbling something.

I approached the group and almost all of them immediately tried to stand properly, but most of the attempts were unsuccessful.

"Wake up, Zaeed." Virox pulled the merc up and slapped his face. "You drank yourself to death in front of the commander."

"What is going on here?" I asked.

"It all started from Garrus and Virox." Miranda suddenly walked out of her room. "They wanted to drink and after that they invited others."

"Man, and why nobody told me about this?" Joker suddenly spoke through the comms.

"We thought that your bones wouldn't withstand this amount of alcohol." Garus laughed in a bit strange voice. "It was all for your own good."

"Ha ha, very funny." pilot grumbled.

"Virox, High Generals are willing to give me a pet for free." I interrupted the argument. "We are flying to Carvistorn."

Carvin soldier froze immediately and it seemed that all the alkohol vanished out of him completely. I could see that he was a bit nervous.

"Yes sir. I'll try to make them not shoot the ship down." he saluted.

"Joker, set the course on these coordinates." I sent the data given by the Carvin leaders.

"Roger that." cocky voice replied. "Just try to not make us all get killed."

I just rolled my eyes and headed to the cockpit.

 **Virox's POV**

Home

I never thought I'll come back here anytime soon. But it happened.

We left the FTL and I saw the familiar planet. It was different on each side. On the top and the bottom there could be seen white areas, in the middle there were multiple green areas divided by little deserts or mountains with several volcanoes. All of these areas were populated and big cities could be seen from the space.

"Unidentified ship, your arrival isn't scheduled. State your business or your vessel will be destroyed." the voice from the station interrupted my thoughts.

"This is Commander Shepard. High Generals informed me about a gift that they have for me here." Shepard replied through the comms.

"Hold on..." the comm officer said. "Alright, there is one scheduled visit like that, but the confirmation is neccessary."

"What kind of confirmation?" commander asked.

"Uh, there is an information that 'a Carvin crewmember should give the code 0510." officer anwsered and I already knew what to do.

" _We live to fight and we fight for survival. Without survival there is no life_." I spoke through the comm in old Carvin language.

"Permission granted. Have a good day, but if watch your step and mouth. The locals don't really trust aliens." comm guy said. "Head to dock 36. We'll send you the coordinates of it along with the location of your target."

He ended the transmission and I sighed with relief. Another diplomatic misunderstand was the last thing I wanted today.

"Good job, Virox." Commander complimented.

"Thanks. I have missed this place." I looked at the shipyards and space stations swarmed by small ships.

"Damn, your friends have a freakin' big fleet." Joker was studying the warships. "Your friends were tearing apart the Citadel fleet. I wonder what would happen if these ships attacked."

He was right. 1st and 2nd were the biggest fleets which were always guarding the homeworld so there was something to admire. We were just flying between two dreadnoughts: Nemesis and Shadow Dagger. Both were one of the finest ships in the whole Navy.

After a while we arrived at the pointed place and Joker docked the ship.

"Virox, you go with me. I'll take Garrus as well." Shepard ordered. "Just to avoid... diplomatic incidents."

I chuckled, but headed towards the airlock. Turian joined us soon and the hatch opened. It revealed two guards in G-72 class guard armors that approached us slowly.

"Commander Shepard?" they asked.

"Yes." he replied.

"We'll escort you to your objective. Request from High Generals." they explained.

We looked at eachother, but followed the soldiers. The station had the same style inside, but I've never been in this part of it.

"Be careful, after this little 'misunderstanding' our people might not trust you." one guard warned us. "We are nice, because we have to, but the merchants don't."

"I'll try to keep us from trouble." I said.

"Good. There is a possibility that they'll treat you well, though the turian might have some problems." they replied.

"Why's that?" Shepard asked and I was also curious.

"The talk with your 'Council' was obviously recorded and sent to all regions of the empire." guard explained.

"And that's why I hate politicians and bureaucracy." Garrus sighed.

"Heh, others may not like you, but you're ok to me." one soldier chuckled. "There we are."

The room was labeled as 'battle companions - military only'. We walked through the door and a giant room with all the modified animals could be seen. It was divided on different sections by glass and thin walls.

"Commander Shepard. High Generals informed me about your arrival." Carvin, who was probably leading the facility waved at us. "Here, go take a look."

"I'm surprised that you treat me so well." commander commented.

"I am not one of these suspicious bastards." he replied. "Besides, you have a Carvin soldier as a companion and your race gave us these 'wolves'. My work might help our military and even create a special section for civilians. These kinds of pets are the most appreciated in our empire."

We walked closer to the glass and saw a little district of the main room. Inside there were five small wolves. They looked fluffy, but were a bit bigger than I thought they would be. Different parts of their skin seemed to shine in different colors.

"They're big for the puppies." Shepard said.

"We crossed them with these 'varrens' a bit. That's why their teeth and claws are sharper and certain parts of their body are covered by scales." scientist explained. "These are the best ones that we bred so far. Pick one."

Commander looked at all of them thinking deeply. As for me, I'd choose one that had dark green scales around it's neck and paws.

"I choose this one." he pointed on the one that looked like a dark blue twin of my favourite.

"An exellent choice. Hang on." guy pressed some buttons on the terminal and a little elevator opened. A few little drones appeared out of nowhere and slowly lead the little wolf to it. Soon the little, fluffy creature appeared in a special window. "Here he is."

"Aww, he looks so cute." Garrus looked at the little puppy almost exploding from the cuteness overload. "How will you name him?"

"Hmm, maybe... Anderson! That's a good name!" Shepard started to tend the wolf behind it's ear. "Welcome aboard, Anderson."

"Nice name." I commented.

"I am happy that you like him." scientist bowed a bit. "Maybe we'll see eachother again. Now excuse me. I must get to work."

We all chuckled and left the room with Anderson closely following Shepard.

'I want one for myself.' I thought looking at the little creature that was running around the commander. Maybe there was something good left in this crazy day.

 **A/N: Aaaand DONE! Yeah, a little cuteness won't kill you. The next chapter will be almost completely about fighting the unholy monstrosities and other abominations. Let me know what do you think and see you in the next chapters. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	5. Visiting Haestrom and Citadel bullshit

**A/N: Hey it's me! The BONKer. The REAL one.**  
 **WE REACHED OVER 2000 VIEWS! YOU'RE AWESOME, GUYS! So basically I was thinking deeply about how this story is going to look and I have an idea to not only show Virox's interaction with the Normandy crew, different situations or drinking Garrus to death. I also wanted to show how the Carvin Empire itself interacts with the Citadel species. The idea is to give a fragment of different interaction between some Carvin politician, merchant, civilian, or whoever that is, with Council, C-sec and etc. Let me know what do you think about it.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Dodles: I know that, but do you certanly think that Carvins would give a damn? You actually inspired me to do these little notes about Carvins coexisting with Citadel races and you'll get the reaction in this chapter. And yes, Virox and Garrus are BFF now :D. I'll be writting some fragments about both of them talking about their races, culture etc. Just like in ME1 elevators! WHO MISSED THESE TALKS? (I personally not XD)**

 **Akshka: Yes, cuteness is always good. Anderson can go with Shepard on different missions and I'll explain how at the beggining of the chapter. I mean who wouldn't like to have a cute little doggy that could tear your greatest enemy's head off? I would like to have such little doggy.**

 **Fanfictionfan03: It's so kind of you. I am often beating myself up for this even if there is nothing to be ashamed and I needed something like this. But there is one thing that my english isn't the most known language for me and I guess that I could write a lot more detailed chapters if I knew the words :D I am Polish and my language is probably in top 20 of the hardest languages.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Shepard's POV**

I still couldn't belive that Carvins gave me such a good gift. Little Anderson was running around me all the time and licking my boots. It was kind of cute. Though I was thinking about the Council's opinion on crossbreeding. They might not like it, but after what I've heard from General Seviros, I don't think they would care much.

When we approached the airlock to the Normandy, a small box was lying on the floor. I approached it slowly and there was a little keyboard on the top of it.

"Huh, what's that?" I looked at the package curiously.

"From what my scanner is showing, it's from the high command and it's adressed to you, commander." Virox replied.

I clicked at the beeping button on the top of it. The box started to open slowly with a quiet hiss. It revealed something that looked like a small backpack except that the backpack-ish part was replaced by a shiny disk.

"Commander Shepard. If you're reading this message, it means that you accepted our gift. Inside there is a special shield generator for your dear, furry friend." a recording turned on. "It is small because of the size of the puppy. Though there are adjustment options for it. When your friend will grow up, just attach the other modifications. They'll make the shield stronger. Stay strong and we wish you good luck. Seviros out."

"Huh, does it mean that Anderson can come with us?" Garrus asked.

"It would appear so." I nodded and walked through the airlock and went on the Normandy.

Virox and Garrus already went down on the Deck 3 talking about 'Citadel bureaucracy'. It is surprising how fast they got along even if the turian shot him before.

I walked to the CIC galaxy map to choose our next target. Nothing to do on Omega, Citadel could wait... Haestrom.

I've met Tali on Freedom's Progress before and it would be good to see her again. She was my best friend equally with Garrus. Of course Liara was always first, but... I wished she came back.

"Joker, set the course on Haestrom. Gonna pick up an old friend." I ordered.

"Roger that." the pilot nodded. Little Anderson was still walking around my legs.

"Commander, since when you have a dog?" Kelly Chambers suddenly asked.

"Oh, it was a gift from the Carvins." I anwsered her scratching my head.

"But it doesn't look like a normal dog." she pointed out.

"Because it's not. They made a crossbreed out of wolf and varren." I explained.

"Oh." was her only reply.

We were approaching the Haestrom and as always I needed to pick a team. Virox was new so it could be nice to introduce him to our way of fighting and he liked Garrus so turian was obviously going as well.

"Virox, Garrus, get to the shuttle. You're going with me." I ordered through the comms and then looked at Little Anderson. "You too, buddy."

I went to the hangar in the elevator with the equipement for my dog. It didn't take too long to put the shield generator on his back and he seemed not to bother.

"So what's the plan?" Virox asked holding his gun on the arm. "Are we going to go in, kill a bunch of bad guys and get our new teammate out?"

"Basically." Garrus replied before I could even speak.

"We'll find out what's going on down there and then we shall see." I corrected.

"I liked the first version more, but I can live with that." Carvin chuckled and I just rolled my eyes.

'Let's just hope it will go well.' was my last thought and the shuttle took off.

 **Virox's POV**

We were closing in to our drop site. The place looked... weird, but reminded me of home from before the coma. Abandoned, empty and completely in ruins.

"Shepard, our data indicates that Tali is somewhere in these ruins." this AI called EDI spoke. "There is considerable geth activity and an enviromental hazard. Solar output has overwhelmed Haestrom's protective magnetosphere. Exposure to the sunlight will damage your shields."

"So we're working from the shadows." Garrus summed up.

"Hey, say what you want, but I enjoy when the things start go get on fire." I joked and he chuckled with me. It sounded strange with his specific voice though.

"Just focus on finding Tali." Shepard cut the chatter.

We walked down a small pathway. Every time I stepped on the sun-exposed area, a warning was appearing on my HUD. It wasn't anything serious though. The sun could only eat up 2% of the shields per second.

There was a gateway in front of us and I could smell something... blood. The gate was closed, but a room with the control panel was opened.

"gettinglah se'lai" a bit synthesized voice could be heard.

"What was that?" I raised my weapon and pointed it at the door. Blood smell was strong there. Little Anderson started to growl

Shepard opened it and it revealed bodies completely covered by suits. There were a lot of holes in them and blood was almost everywhere.

"Damn, these quarians weren't very lucky." Garrus sighed.

"The geth won't leave them alone." Shepard added and clicked something on the console nearby making the gate open.

I've studied both quarian and geth corpses while walking outside. They were similar to eachother.

"Did the quarians create the geth?" I asked. "I've read something about it, but not much actually."

"Yeah, they did and now live in a big fleet, because their planet was taken over." Garrus explained.

I nodded and all of us went through the gate. Behind it there was an open area highly exposed to sun. It wasn't going to be easy. But then I saw a small ship in front of us.

"Enemy dropship!" I shouted instinctively and it was right. A few packages were detached from the ship and quickly turned into synthetic soldiers. "Crap."

We all took covers and started to slowly take out geth forces. The synthetics weren't very durable, but their shields were.

I peaked out of cover and fired five shots that pierced one robot's head. Then I quickly slid through the exposed area and fired a barage into another synthetic's torso.

"Wow, that was a decent shot!" Garrus smiled. "But watch this."

He switched to his sniper rifle, quickly scoped and a bullet pierced geth's head-ish part.

Shepard in the meantime was moving from cover to cover and methodically taking out the hostiles. He was quick and his shots were precise. An experienced soldier for sure. Little Anderson was with him and even small he was jumping at the geth tearing their wires out.

After we cleared the way to another shaded area, shots could be heard. I moved to cover and spotted two geth soldiers shooting something that I couldn't see.

"Left one is mine." I grinned and delivered a deadly shot into the enemy's visor. Shepard took out the second one which made Garrus grumpy.

"OP-1, this is Squad Leader Kal'Regaar, come in, over." I've heard a voice again. This time it came out of a communicator that lied beside the dead quarian. He was probably shot down a while ago. Commander picked it up and activated.

"This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Can we provide assistance?" he asked.

"Patch radio to Channel 617 Theta." this Kal'Regaar replied and shots could be heard from the little speaker as well. All of us switched to the given frequency. "We're on a stealth mission. We found what we were after, but the geth found us. Can't get to our ship or send the data through the solar radiation."

"How are you holding up? We can be there in few minutes." Commander encouraged him.

"Don't rush it. Sunlight will send your shields to hell." he anwsered and a short static interrupted the transmission. "We bunkered up at base camp across the valley. I sent Tali'Zorah to a secure shelter and double-timed back here. Though these metal bastards won't leave easily. Getting out Tali is our top priority."

"Stay safe, we'll go stab them in the back." Shepard replied and I grinned as the idea was great.

"Wait... GETH DROPSHIP INCOMING!" Kal'Regaar screamed and the mentioned ship appeared. It fired three shots decimating the quarian soldiers. Then a column started to move and it looked like it was going to block the path.

We all ran to reach the entrance, but the column blocked it a few seconds later.

"Crap, the doorway is blocked. Grab the demo-charges from the buildings nearby." quarian commander advised, but I just looked at our little obstacle. It wasn't actually really high.

"Oh come on! We can do this without them." I ran towards the blocked doorway, jumped and climbed on the fallen column completely ignoring the coming geth. "Oh wait, let me help you."

I started to shoot the synthetics in the back and soon there was no resistance left.

"Nice jumping there, Virox." Garrus said.

"Thanks, let me help you." I reached my hand down and quickly pulled the turian up. I repeated the process with Shepard. Though Little Anderson was smaller so I jumped down, grabbed him and jumped back up. "That wasn't too hard."

"It wasn't indeed." Shepard nodded. "You start to get a hang in this."

"Aww, you flatter me, commander." I laughed.

We went through the door and saw more quarian bodies accompanied by some geth as well. There was even one synthetic that was crawling towards us. I shot it's head without a warning. Little Anderson was just wondering around and smelling the corpses.

"Tali'Zorah to base camp. Come in, base camp." a console near another door suddenly activated. All of us ran towards it with Shepard leading the way. It showed a quarian with a purple suit. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Tali, this is Shepard. I'm sorry. Everyone here is dead." commander replied. "Any survivors must've fallen back."

"Damn it. We knew that this mission was a high-rish." she sighed. "And what are you doing here, Shepard? We're in the middle of geth space."

"I was in the neighborhood and thought you might need a hand." he smirked.

While they were talking, I was studying the bodies. These suits that quarians wore weren't a good armor. From what it seemed they were probably to keep away from the enviromental hazard or something like this. But why?

"Garrus, Virox. We're moving." Commander interrupted my thoughts.

I left the bodies alone and walked after him. The hallway led us to a space with a lot of columns. It was shaded well, but something was not right here. I could smell it. And the reason of it suddenly appeared in front of us. Literally appeared.

"Cloaking drones!" I shouted and immediately started firing. There were a lot of them accompanied by two big-ass geth.

"Anderson! Come here!" Shepard shouted and the dog immediately followed the order and stayed behind the cover.

Then a flash of electricity exploded and two drones fell on the ground. I looked at Garrus who was now chuckling. He had something to do with it. But I had something to say as well.

I pulled out a grenade and tossed it at the big geth. The ball rolled at it's legs and then exploded with electricity immobilizing the enemy and taking out nearby drones. I just finished off the geth with a few shots.

"Whoa, that was nice." Shepard complimented shooting down two more drones. "This geth prime couldn't stand a chance."

"I have a lot more of these, but I'll leave you something to be satisfied." I grinned while they rolled their eyes. I didn't need to wait long as another of these geth primes was down.

On the other side there was a hallway that lead us to another door. I was surprised that this much of the doors were still functional, but that wasn't the most important thing to think about now.

We opened the door that revealed a strange room. It looked a bit like an observatory with closed windows. Commander opened them and it revealed a LOT of geth wandering around. The most visible though was a four-legged unholy monstrosity that just turned towards us and fired.

"Colossus!" Shepard yelled.

'Shit.' I thought just before the projectile hit the wall and the shockwave knocked us down.

"Darn, I hoped that we will not see those anymore." Garrus grumbled slowly standing up.

"Say what you want." I said heading towards the door on the left. "This is the first interesting thing to fight with for me on this planet."

"Someone is down there!" Shepard interrupted pointing on something or someone.

There was a lone quarian, that was holding a rocket launcher behind the cover. Without thinking we went down towards him. He had several holes in his suit, but looked fine.

"Over here, Shepard! Take cover!" Quarian waved at us and we obeyed quickly. I crouched next to commander and started to harass the geth. "Squad Leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines. We talked on the radio before. Still don't know why you're here, but now I can't be picky. And what is this thing behind you?"

I realized that it was about me, but instead of being 'really offended', I had a plan how to make it fun. At least for me.

"Hey, I am a living and sentinent creature!" I tried to seem really offended. "Did you just call me 'thing'? Know your privileges, man!"

"Oh sorry." he seemed crestfallen. Though now colossus shot the wall next to us and it shaked violently. "Tali's inside, over there! Geth killed the rest of my squad and they're trying to get to her. Best thing I could do was to draw their attention."

"Are you sure that she's still alive?" Shepard asked while I was having a great time taking out nearby geth troopers.

"The observatory is reinforced. Even the geth will need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door while someone is shooting rockets at you." quarian chuckled.

"I like your way of thinking." I smirked while one geth lost it's visor and tumbled to the ground. "Though this damn monstrosity seems to repair itself all the time!"

"Yeah, I saw it as well!" Garrus added taking out another synthetic.

"Colossus has a self-repair protocol. It curls up and I can't hit him when he's like that." Reegar explained. "I tried to get closer, but one of these bastards punch a shot clean through my suit."

"We need to get to Tali. Got any ideas?" Shepard asked while another explosion shook our cover.

"Just one. I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger. And I've got a rocket launcher that the Sun hasn't fried yet." quarian replied. "You move in while I'll keep the Colossus busy. Maybe even drop it's shields. With any luck you'll be able to finish it off."

"Well, that just sounds like a suicide, bro." I said dodging the geth shots. "I'd suggest you to stay down. You did good."

"I wasn't asking for your opinion, alien." he anwsered while leaning out of cover. "My job is to keep Tali safe-"

But commander already interrupted him. He pinned him down to the wall and looked deeply in his shiny eyes.

"We don't have enough people on our side to take one for the team! Stand down!" he gave the direct order.

"I'm not gonna stand there while you run into enemy fire!" Reegar argued. "They killed my whole squad!"

"And if you wanna honor your squad then watch my back!" Shepard replied "I'll need you here in case they bring reinforcements!"

Quarian let out a short sigh, but nodded. He tightened his grip on the rocket launcher and spoke. "Alright Shepard, we'll do it your way. Hit them for me. Keelah se'lai!"

"Death and glory!" I ran out of cover as commander gave the order to engage.

Two geth spotted me and opened fire. I jumped on the wall and used my grappling hook to stay on it. Then I sprayed the enemies with barage of lasers turning them into a scrap covered in white liquid.

Unfortunately the geth on the catwalk saw me and opened fire. I recieved a good shot in the shield, but then one geth fell of the catwalk and I saw Garrus smirking.

"No need to thank me." he said.

"Screw you!" I laughed and jumped down taking out a cloaking geth that stood behind the turian. "Now we're even!"

"Watch out for Colossus!" Shepard warned me, but it was too late. Projectile sent me flying at the nearby wall.

Everything was blurry and I could hear gunshots, but they seemed to be muffled. Then I saw a geth with something that looked like a flamethrower. It was closing in and soon it was standing right in front of me.

Then the pain came. Pain from the fire. My shields were down, but I used all of my strength to jump at the geth. I punched it in the lightbulb that stopped glowing after that. Colossus turned towards me again, but this time I had a little surprise for him. I pulled out two electro-nades, activated them and threw at the giant monstrosity. It shrieked after being shocked while me, Garrus and Shepard saw an opportunity to finish it off. Geth Colossus tried to focus, but we were spread out and it couldn't focus. After a few seconds, explosion shaked the whole construction and we were finishing off the remaining geth. Little Anderson seemed to have a great fun with the synthetic corpses. He defianetely considered them as tasty.

"You ok there?" Garrus approached me. "Want some medi-gel?"

"Nah, I'm fine." I replied still holding my side. "Though this might slow down the healing rate of my second heart that you blasted before."

"It heals?" he sounded surprised. "How?"

"I dunno, it just does. And what I also don't understand is these whole 'sickness' things. What the hell is it?" I asked. "You created a giant manufacture of this 'medicine' crap. What we need is just some time to heal."

"So you say that you're immune to any sickness?" turian looked at me suspiciously. "Well, vorcha just got a rival."

I just shrugged and joined Shepard who was approaching the door. He opened it and it revealed a female quarian with purple suit standing in front of a terminal. It was probably this Tali who we were about to extract.

"Just let me finish this download." she said still typing something on the terminal.

"Damn, this place recieved a hell of a punch." I chuckled looking at all geth corpses.

"Thank you, Shepard. If it wasn't for you, I would never made it out of this room." she turned around. "This whole mission was a-" she looked at me and I was getting seriously irritated that everyone here consideres me as some unholy creature from the depths of hell.

"Is every quarian xenophobic?" I asked. "This starts to get annoying."

"Uh huh." Tali didn't seem to know what to say.

"Virox is kind of a representative of Carvins that had recently joined the Citadel races." Shepard explained and looked at me. "Though I believe that you already have an ambassador, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I haven't checked out who it is yet." I anwsered truthfully.

"OK..." quarian was found a bit dumbfounded.

"If we helped your team to accomplish the mission, I could use you back on the Normandy." commander got to the point.

"I promised to see this mission to the end. I did, so now I can leave and send the data back to the Fleet." she said. "And if the Admirals will have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."

"Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma'am." a familiar voice could be heard from behind us.

"Reegar, you made it!" Tali looked relieved.

"Your old captain is as good as you said." quarian leader approached us, but then he looked at me. "Though I saw you flying when that Colossus blasted you."

"Heh, nothing worse than I've experienced before." I chuckled while both quarians looked at me with an unknown expression.

"Do I even want to know?" Tali sighed.

"Well, let's begin with the recent event when HE" then I pointed on Garrus. "literally obliterated my heart with a sniper rifle bullet." I finished. There was silence and turian looked down probably from shame. "Don't worry, I still had the second one working perfectly fine. I'll live."

"Virox, I think you should stop. You're terrifying them." Garrus advised and I actually saw that he was right.

"OK, shutting up." I said.

"Alright, if need be, the Normandy can get you out of here, Regaar." Shepard suggested.

"Well, the geth didn't damage our ship. As long as we get outta here before reinforcements arrive, we'll be fine." he assured.

"Actually I won't be going with you. I'm joining Commander Shepard." Tali said.

"I'll pass the data to the Admiralty Board and let 'em know what happened." Reegar informed. "She's all yours now, Shepard. Keep her safe."

"Alright." Commander nodded and we all headed towards the open space we passed before where the shuttle was waiting for us.

"Shepard, since when you have a dog?" Tali asked looking at Little Anderson who was either running around commander's legs or was playing with the corpses of geth.

"It was a gift from the Carvins." he explained pointing on me.

"You skipped a lot of fun, Tali." Garrus added. "Their general just stood there and was bitching at Council. He also immediately agreed that Sovereign wasn't a geth ship."

"Whoa. I might like them." she said.

"We'll see." I grinned and we all stepped to the shuttle. It was time to go back.

 **(Meanwhile on the Citadel) No-one's POV**

Since the Carvins joined the Citadel races, the station was full of minor or major events that lead to either violence or at least a very big argument. Ambassador Zayan Te'Kraan was a Carvin representative in galactic community and now he had hands full of work.

He was now going to talk personally with the Council about the problems that they're creating for Carvins. Ambassador was going up the stairs looking at all civilians that were wandering around. They were all looking at him suspiciously.

'Xenophobic kaar'shals ('cowards' in old carvin language)' he thought.

"Ambassador Te'Kraan, what is the reason of this unexpected visit?" Asari councilor started.

"I was thinking that you'd be expecting more." he said. "And again I am here to tell you to stop trying to steal our data."

"That's a really big accusation." Salarian representative replied. "Do you have anything to support it?"

"As always." Zayan was getting tired of this. All talks looked the same, just like if Council was seeing him the first time. He pressed some buttons on his wrist and reports of hacking attempts showed up on the screen. "Here. All of them are labeled to the certain planet they were launched from."

"We'll inform the groups responsible for this to not attempt these attacks again." Salarian councilor replied though Zayan could see the anxiety on his face. And he was going to make it even worse because it was getting boring.

"You said this three times before! And what you do is only changing the groups responsible for the attacks!" he let out. "Belive me, we can also wage a cybernetic war very well. We fought with cyborgs and won. So be aware, because we're not leaving it like that. Stop stealing our secrets or we're going to begin a war with you. I think you don't want to repeat our first contact."

"Is this a threat, ambassador?" turian councilor asked looking at him with irritation. "Are you just threatening us? We defeated stronger and craftier enemies than you."

"The only thing I saw when the fight over the Citadel began were your ships being blown up." Zayan anwsered coldly "Besides, you along with salarian councilor should be the most scared right now."

"And why is that?" they both asked and this was exactly what he was hoping for. He clicked a few buttons on his wrist tool and soon a footage was shown on the screen.

It showed a Turian councilor in a bar known as Purgatory with stripteasers and prostitutes. Salarian councilor was accompanying him.

"I just uploaded this video to extranet and it already has over 5 million likes. I am surprised that it was so effective." Zayan looked happily surprised while the expressions of both councilors were a mix of shock and anger. "This was a warning shot. Next one will go into your guts." with that he walked away. The video now reached over 16 million likes and over 2 billion views. He was proud of that.

 **A/N: Whew! That took a while! I am sorry that you needed to wait so long, but I must inform you that it might get worse. Christmas is coming and I've got a big school project to finish. That doesn't mean I'm leaving you though. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Let me know what do you think of this. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	6. SPECIAL: Carvin Soldier description

**A/N: Hey, so there is a little special for a New Year. It's not a normal chapter, but I'll be posting this kind of texts. It's basically characteristic of a certain part of Carvin Empire. I am sorry if you thought that it's a normal update, but I assure you that it will come soon. This chapter we'll be covering: Standard Carvin Soldiers. BUT before we begin...**

 **Reviews:**

 **Guest: Let me explain some things. I know that this chapter wasn't one of my best ones, but if you are telling me that I did something wrong, tell me as well how would you like it to be fixed. Now I'll explain it the things that might've made you think this way. First of all: captured soldier. There was a mention in the chapter that they were ALL drugged. He wasn't obviously thinking completely straight. And insulting your enemies is good for letting go your anger. Second are the carvin commandos talking about salarians. There is even a quote from ME wikia about salarians: that they always know more than they are letting on. In this context, Carvins have the advantage of Grox technology that is unknown to the races of Citadel. It's far more advanced, because Grox have exsisted before even the Citadel Council was formed (I'll have everything explained, just wanna keep some secrets for now :D). Salarians, being technologically advanced more than almost all of the races (except asari in some ways), they are a 'firewall' to the Citadel. Having enemies that can bypass these defenses makes them want to find countermeasure. Simply, they see carvins as a possible threat and 'want the war won before it even begins' just in case. On the other hand there are carvins. I mentioned it in the first chapter that for them a good of the whole is more important than the good of the one, with a few exceptions. They were also attacked by another space race before, so suspicion and distrust should be understandable. Besides, every country gets suspicious and a bit angry when it finds out that someone is trying to hack their databanks. And as for my 'childish view of the politics'. Isn't the Citadel Council acting childish through at least ME1 and ME2? Because I think that it is. I hope that I explained any unclear parts of the previous chapter. If you want more explanation, please write it in the review. But this time point directly what you thought was bad or not fully explained.**

 **Dodles: Thanks man. It was my idea from the beggining and I'm happy that you like it.**

 **Anyway, with that being said,**

 **Enjoy**

 **Carvin Standard Infantry Soldier**

 **Basic Data**

Height: 1.7-1.9 meters

Main armament: CAR-26 assault rifle

Secondary armament: SR-12 hybrid revolver

Additional armament: 12 multi-purpose grenades : frag, anti-vehicle, ion, singularity (very rare); knuckle blades (can be hid)

Protection: Raantanium armor plates, personal shield generator.

Additional equipement: tactical visors, small field medkit 2x, helmet camera, long and short range communicator.

 **Detailed Data**

 **Physical Traits**

Carvins might not be the tallest creatures in the galactic community, but compensate this with size and strength. In the past, carvins slightly weaker than krogan, but cybernetic implants changed everything. Now they can easily put up a fight with krogan. The skin of carvins is thick and quickly heals. Their tails with spikes give them even bigger advantage and they can also shoot venom darts out of them. The venom causes a fast necrosis of organic tissue and contains strong neurotoxins as well. Carvins are agile as well. Cybernetic implants let them keep up with asari. They have wings (that can be positioned in a way that doesn't affect their mobility) which allows them to glide for a short time. Carvins can also become 'enraged'. It's effects are pretty similar to the krogan 'blood rage', but with some differences. Just like during the 'blood rage', carvins become totally unresponsive to pain. All of their energy reserves are immediately distributed to their organs to provide maximum effectiveness. This causes an increased efficiency of certain senses: sight, hearing and smell. A specific trait that makes the carvin rage different from it's krogan counterpart is cell sacrifice. During the rage, when all of the energy resources were used, carvin body starts to 'consume' the cells of some minor organs to gain energy and keep fighting. It usually starts from skin, but after a long fight, carvin might not survive after the rage is over due to the body damage. Biotics are rare, but strong when present. Although such soldiers go through separate training.

 **Main armament: CAR-26 assault rifle**

CAR-26 is an automatic assault rife with an option of semi-automatic fire. It fires energy bolts so it doesn't require ammunition. It's effective range is from 10 m to 600 m. The weapon's recoil is enormus so the only species that can withstand it are krogan and carvins (due to their cybernetic implants). The only thing that limits it's firepower is heat. When the weapon overheats, a special disk pops out and releases the heat to the air. Though it has an internal cooling system that works efficiently when the weapon isn't overloaded. A semi-automatic fire mode can be turned on in every moment and fires stronger and more accurate bolts which are effective against heavy armored infantry or light armored vehicles. Automatic fire is most effective against clustered groups of light infantry. There are some attachments to this weapon available like: holographic sight, additional heat sink, grenade launcher, damage increasing module or suppressor.

 **Secondary armament: SR-12 hybrid revolver**

SR-12 is a standard sidearm for all carvin soldiers. It's a revolver that can be turned into shotgun in 2 seconds. Just like CAR-26, it is an energy weapon and has a huge recoil that only krogan and carvins can control. When in revolver mode, SR-12 is very precise and it's effective range is between 5 m and 80 m (some really skilled sharpshooters can use it effectively even till 100 m). It can pierce almost any known light armor and damage heavy armor. While in the shotgun mode, SR-12 fires 5 shots that have a spread comparable to Claymore shotgun. It's effective distance lies between 0 m and 3 m. The weapon supports following attachments: holographic sight, additional heat sing, damage increasing module, suppressor and smart choke.

 **Additional armament: multi-purpose grenades.**

The grenades of carvin soldiers can be used in different ways with different modes. The modes can be set by two buttons on the grenades. Though after discovering element zero, the newest grenades have a fourth mode, they aren't widely used by normal soldiers and are favured rather by commandos.

 **Additional armament:** **knuckle blades**

These blades are made of Reantanium, but they still can't match the monomolecular blades (known mostly from ME3). They are connected to the soldier's nervous system so they can be hid or drawn out by a single thought. Although the system is completely isolated from the exterior connection (just like all implants) so it's impossible to hack it.

 **Protection**

As a primary protection, carvin soldiers use personal shield generators. These are practical devices that can stop a certain amount of firepower and recharge. Bigger size allows carvins to install stronger generators to provide better protection. When the shields are down, they are protected by a Reantanium armor that has a high durability. These two elements and extremely high endurance of carvins create a great combination.

 **Additional equipement: tactical visor**

A standard part of carvin soldier's equipement. Tactical visor provides a big boost of sight advantages. It is connected to the soldier's helmet and has many utilities. Main ones are: thermovision, showing map, display of weapon's temperature etc. It can also be linked to the weapon to create a sight on it's screen making aiming (mostly from the hip) easier.

 **Additional equipement: medkits**

These medkits aren't designed to save dying soldiers. Rather to stabilize the state of the injured ones so they can keep fighting. They contain either adrenaline shots, painkillers or medi-gel (all in liquid form).

 **Additional equipement: helmet camera**

Used to document certain events, things, or just for a more effective communication. It's not invincible though. One good shot in the helmet and the camera is usually out of action.

 **Additional equipement: communicators**

There are two of them: long-ranged and short-ranged. Short-ranged are used to coordinate forces on the battlefield and give orders in the heat of battle. Their long-ranged counterparts are used to contact the space fleets or other units that are located far away.

 **Military Doctrine**

 **Training**

As a consequence of The Great Grox War, all of the young carvins need to go through basic military and self-defence training. But this is only a part of for civilian . A normal carvin soldier needs to go through 6 years of training, divided to three stages, to become a part of Carvin Military. First two years are spent on survival training, increasing the cadet's physical traits and adding special cybernetic improvements to his/her implants. This is probably the hardest part of the training. During this part of the training, the future soldiers are also taught to utilize their rage. If cadet is performing exeptionally well, he/she can skip some of the training and begin to prepare for the next stage. During the next two years, cadets begin to practice with ranged weapons. A single day takes 22 hours of exercises with 5 minute breaks every 4 hours. Unlike in previous stage, there is no possiblity to skip this part of training. The last stage focuses on the simulations. Cadets are divided to squads (each composed of 7 soldiers) and the leader is choses, though carvins prefer the term 'shotcaller' as the individual choses might not be the best in fight, but rather in strategy and tactics. Many inhabitable planets were turned into training complexes to create extremely difficult tests for the cadets. Future soldiers must visit a few of such complexes during their last stage of training. After that, the training comes to an end. Squads are assigned to different batallions and become the fundaments of Carvin Military.

 **Strategy and tactics**

Carvins can either deliver strong punches and take part in direct combat or perform hit-and-run attacks. Both of the tactics are deadly. During the battle, carvins take approach of Combined Arms. Infantry batallions usually work with armored divisions or tanks and are being supported by aircraft. In addition they use a big variety of drones, unmanned vehicles and small droids to assist them. Although that doesn't mean the Carvin Military works only on cooperation. Different squads can work independently behind enemy lines to complete their missions. A wide spread squads can attack multiple targets drawing the enemy attention on themselves and making an opening for the main assault teams. They can also fight behind enemy lines sabotaging, assassinating or just spying.

 **END OF THE ARTICLE**

 **A/N: So here is a New Year special for you. I'm sorry to all of the people that thought it was an update for the story. I'll post it soon. You can also suggest a part of Carvin Empire that you want me to write about. Carry on! HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

 **Bonker out!**


	7. A tour to the Collector ship

**A/N: OK, so I'm going to give the reason why I haven't uploaded any chapter. School gives us a crap ton of work at the end of the semester. This isn't anything to make you feel pity on me, because it's not the reason why I write this story. I hope I'll be able to upload them more often though. In the meantime, I managed to write myself the whole conspect of the plot and it only needs to be written. I noticed that at least some of you liked the previous chapter so feel free to give suggestions on which part of Carvin Empire should I write next.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Dodles: I'm happy that you liked that chapter. I wasn't sure about uploading it, but I guess it went fine. I also thank you for your activity here. It really makes me want to write more stuff :)**

 **Anyway, with that being said,**

 **Enjoy**

 **Normandy, Virox's POV**

We came back from that mission on Sur'Kesh. I already managed to send the data to the High Generals and our commandos left the salarian system as well. It was too talky mission in my opinion though. Not my type of stuff to do.

Garrus and I were walking towards the elevator in silence. None of us tried to break it. I didn't know why he was silent, but I just wanted to rest a litte after this mission. Suddenly I smelled something. It was... weak smell, but strong enough for me to recognize it.

'Human... female...' I inhaled more air and closed my eyes. 'And a lot of weaker smells... a thief? Some kind of scavenger?'

The smell was growing stronger with every second and I could even locate her now. If she was a thief then I wouldn't play that game. I would play MY game instead.

"You know that invisible, human female? The one that is looking at us?" I asked Garrus who flinched a bit. "Because she's right behind us. Is she a thief as well?"

"Oh... Kasumi Goto. One of the most infamous thieves in galaxy." he started. "She was hired by Cerberus to help us defeat the Collectors."

"Well then she's a horrible in hiding." I grinned reach seemingly into the empty air. But that didn't happen as I caught the hand of this Kasumi.

"Ow! Hey, stop it!" a voice shouted out of nowhere.

"...wat?" Garrus was confused, and then surprised as Kasumi revealed herself. She had a hood that made the upper part of her face less visible, but still clear for me. Not sure how with the others.

"Told you." I released my 'hostage' and turned towards her. "Now can you please stop spying on us? You stink with stolen stuff."

"Uhh... ok." she was still a bit confused, but then nodded and disappeared again.

"...How did you know?" Garrus asked after a while.

"I didn't." I gave him a reply. "Just guessing, but I'm gonna keep my things under lock from now."

He didn't say anything after that, but then EDI appeared on the nearby terminal.

"Garrus, Virox. Commander orders you to head towards the shuttle bay now." she said.

"But we just came back!" Turian and I were completely surprised.

"Commander said that, citing 'they are the most prepared ones from all of the crew at this moment'." EDI added.

"Well fair enough." Garrus rolled his eyes and we went towards the elevator.

As we were walking I thought about what could make the Commander to send us to work again. He didn't do that usually. Maybe something from that weird guy with shiny eyes. Illusive man was his name as I remembered.

'Something smells bad here.' I thought. 'And it's not Kasumi's stolen stuff.'

The elevator was taking us down to the hangar.

"So... our crewmembers usually talk in the elevators." Garrus started sounding a bit uncertain. "Sharing history of our people, exchanging opinions, that kind of stuff."

"What are you trying to say by that?" I asked him. "If you need a mental help or someone to talk about your problems then I'm not the right person. Ask that 'Kelly Chambers' in the CIC. She is monitoring our behaviour all the time, you know?"

"Oh... I... didn't know that." he sounded confused. "But if you don't want to talk then ok. Ehh, I miss the good, old times."

I rolled my eyes and the elevator stopped. Shepard was already waiting for us in the shuttle and we went in. He had his armor on with the helmet included. It was showing that the mission will be interesting.

"So what the heck are we going to do now?" I asked.

"Illusive Man got the intel that the Collector ship has been immobilized for a short time." he started the short briefing. "We're gonna land onboard and try to find out anything that might help us."

"Sounds like a plan." Garrus already started to adjust settings on his sniper rifle.

"I'm fine with that. I never fought against them though." I said. "Hey, Garrus! I can 'calibrate' it for you if you want."

"No, you're not touching it." he immediately flinched and sat a bit farther.

"Why do you have such a strange relationship?" Shepard asked as the ship shaked as it went out of FTL.

"I don't know, but most of the time we aren't serious and acting just for the sake of fun. At least me." I replied. "Life in military is hard, so me and other soldiers were just having fun in life. I guess it stayed."

"Alright, but now focus." he nodded. "We go in, gather as much info as we can, and go back."

"Gotcha." me and Garrus held our weapons tightly as the shuttle left the hangar.

 **Shepard's POV**

I couldn't understand them. Garrus and Virox were acting so strange when around together. I was thinking that they might have some mental problems, or at least Virox. He didn't act like a normal soldier. More like a really happy mercenary and it started to affect Garrus as well.

But then I realized something.

They were fighters. They both suffered a lot, and they both probably tried to get away from that pain.

"Shepard, I have scanned the ship's EM signature to the known Collector profiles. It is the vessel you've encountered on Horizon." EDI reported through the comms.

"Maybe the defense towers softened it for the turians." I assumed.

"Doubtful. That thing is massive." Virox shook his head. "Besides, there was no damage visible from the outside. I don't think that our ships would be able to put up a fight with that thing. Depends on the armament."

"The missing colonists might be still onboard. IF they're still alive." Garrus added.

As we were going forward, I was hearing Virox constantly letting out a strange sound. It was like mixing a sneeze of a little child with Rachni screams.

"Virox, I don't have any asthma medicine if you'd like that." Garrus suddenly spoke just before I tried to ask the carvin soldier what's wrong. "And we have different amino, so it wouldn't work."

"I don't know anything about this stupid dextro and levo food problems. All I know that we don't mind eating both of them. Dextro just doesn't taste that good." he replied with an annoyed look. His reply surprised both of us. "And I don't know what asthma is. It's just that it stinks with death all over the place. And rotten bodies. I think they are humans, but a bit different."

"You can eat both types of food?" I asked him. "No species in the galaxy are known to be able to do that."

"There are different things that we can do and you can't." Virox grinned as we were walking farther and farther. "But I thought about it as well. It seems that we are the most unique species of this galaxy now. From what our scientists say, there is no sign of change or mutation in our DNA during our expansion of the planet. I don't know what to think about it really. Strange scientific stuff."

'They were not evolving?' I thought and started to think of carvins in different way. If they weren't evolving in any way... maybe they were created by... another species? But what? There was nothing about them in any known protean artifact. 'Something is wrong about this.'

"So now we won't talk about our future in elevators, but on the missions." carvin elbowed Garrus who chuckled as well.

But I couldn't contemplate any further as we reached the room where even I started to smell the rotten bodies. What we saw first was a Collector pod lying on the ground.

"Hmm, they used such pods on the Horizon, but these are empty." I said while examining the container.

"Wonder what happened to the content?" carvin soldier asked.

"I have a feeling that we will find out really soon." Garrus replied.

We walked to the right side and saw a pile of bodies and body parts. They were highly deformed though and some of them didn't even looked human anymore.

"Well that explains the smell." Virox looked at the pile and shrugged. Even I could hear the disgust in his voice and it was really hard to recognize his feelings. "And the empty pods."

"It looks like the experiment didn't go too well." Garrus sighed.

"Yeah, I don't think the Collectors care about the remainings." I said. "Let's go, we don't have much to look at here."

"Agreed. I hope the rest of the ship smells better." Virox nodded and we moved out.

We were walking quietly for some time. I was surprised that both of my squadmates didn't have anything to say, but then I thought that there will be a time for it. Just not now.

More bodies were lying on the way forward, but fortunately they were intact and Virox stopped 'sneezing'. The next room looked like some kind of lab. I saw these pods, but when I got closer, I saw a Collector inside.

"EDI, what's this?" I turned on my comm. "Were the Collectors experimenting on one of their own?"

"Scanning..." she started. "The Collectors were searching for similarities between their species and humans."

"Did they found out anything?" I asked knowing that there was something bigger into this.

"I don't have access to their results, but I found something quite interesting." the AI replied. "A quad-strand DNA structure. Only one race is known to possess it: Protheans."

For a moment after hearing this, my heart stopped beating. Now all of the speculations about these ancient species turned out to be wrong.

"My God..." I gasped. "The protheans didn't vanish. They just work for the Reapers now."

"They are no longer protheans." EDI informed us through the comms. I saw Virox approaching the pod and studying it's content. I stopped listening to the AI now as for a short moment he flinched as if someone zapped him with electricity.

"Virox, what's wrong?" I approached the carvin who was rubbing his head now.

"Uh, nothing. I just... noticed something. Not important now." he said, but I knew he wasn't telling me the truth. "We should get going."

"Shepard, look!" Garrus shouted. "A pile of very expensive guns here. Such opportunity can't be lost."

He was right. There were a few nice weapons lying around, but my interest was in the Widow sniper rifle. It was really heavy, and it's kickback was strong, but I wanted a good sniper rifle that deals good damage.

"I'll take the Widow." I smirked under my helmet and picked up the weapon.

"Oh come on! I wanted that one." turian seemed to be a bit angry.

"Higher rank goes with more privileges." Virox grinned. "Need to rank up, buddy."

"Fine..." he grumbled and we continued our journey.

After a short moment, and collecting some refined eezo, we reached a big insect hive-like room. It was filled with these pods on the ceiling and the walls.

"Look, more of these lifepods." Garrus pointed at them. "Think how many colonists were stored there."

"Too many." I gave a short reply.

"Shepard, I detect no life signs in these lifepods." EDI reported. "It is possible that the colonists died when the ship lost it's primary power."

"Not a nice way to go." Virox commented as we were moving up. I also got some technology from the Collector terminal by the way.

"Commander, you need to hear this!" Joker suddenly spoke making me and my squadmates flinch. "On a hunch, I told EDI to run analysis on the ship."

"I compared the EM profile with the data recorded by the original Normandy." the AI joined the conversation. "They are in the exact match."

Another mysterious information that was making everything more and more scary.

"The same ship dogging me for two years?" I thought out loud. "Way beyond coincidence."

"Something doesn't add up, Commander. Watch your back." Joker warned me and ended the transmission.

"Well, it seems you made yourself a fanclub, Shepard." Virox joked. "They were SO desperate to meet you personally."

"Ha ha. Very funny." I replied not hiding sarcasm in my voice.

But then we entered even a giant tube-like space. It was probably the hole visible from the front of the ship.

"Whoa, that thing is HUUUGE!" Garrus gasped in mixed expression of amazement and shock. "They could kidnap all humans from the Terminus systems and still have some pods empty."

"They are gonna go for Earth." Virox added. "Most likely to get the specimens or... they need your people for something else, Commander."

"No if we stop them." I replied with the pure determination. The Collectors were going to pay for abducting these colonists.

 **Virox's POV**

I wasn't surprised by Shepard's determination. I would've been at least angry if an unknown race would start to abduct our colonists. But I was certain about one thing: these Collectors were highly advanced race. When I touched that body in this lab-like room, an image flashed in my mind. It showed carvin soldiers fighting with the Grox, and some other creatures. It was rather a mix of different creatures fighting on the same side. They had multiple mechanical parts which I couldn't recognize.

'But there is no mention about them in the records of the Grox War.' I thought and tried to analyse the glimpse of the image I saw. A storm of theories and thoughts was quickly forming in my mind as we were walking. It would appear that our past might not be what we believed it was.

I started to study the ship to stop thinking about that vision. The technology seemed... ancient, but it clearly surpassed ours. I just couldn't understand one thing: All the aliens, Collectors and these strange... Reapers were using the Thanix Cannons. They had limited ammunition, the shields could easily stop most of the damage done... 'But their ships have weaker shields and protection. The Grox technology gave us an advantage. They use the most effective way to destroy eachother's ships as they don't have shields strong enough.' I started to analyse that. 'But why the ship of such size, with such advanced technology, still uses this type of cannons?' but then a strange thought came to my mind. 'Or why the Grox were using lasers? When big enough and with the target unshielded, Thanix Cannons could probably do a greater damage than our laser beams.'

I decided to put this analysis aside as we reached a Collector terminal. It was surrounded by a few pillars of unknown function.

"Look! Some kind of terminal." I pointed at the device. "Maybe we can get some information from it."

"Good point." Shepard nodded. "EDI shouldn't have problems with getting in."

"So why are we still waiting?" Garrus asked.

"Don't be such a smartass, Vakarian." I replied. "It might get you killed some day."

"Wait..." Shepard put his hand up. "Something's not right here. Where are the bodies of the Collectors' crew?"

"It's either automated, or we are defianetely walking into a trap." I tightened my grip on the rifle. "I will still prepare for the second option and recommend you to do the same."

"Alright, let's see..." Commander activated his omni-tool. "EDI, I'm setting up a bridge to the Collector ship. See if you can find anything useful."

"Data-mine in progress." EDI reported and I had a really strong feeling that the whole ship either goes BOOM, killing us all in the result, or we are going to die another way.

"Uhh, that can't be good." I heard Joker saying before the whole place shaked from the unknown reason. These strange pillars were now active and I could see something inside of them.

"We're alright here Joker. What just happened?" Shepard asked.

"Major power surge. Everything went dark, but we're back up now." the pilot replied.

"I have managed to divert the overload to some non-critical systems." AI added. "This was not a simple malfunction. It was a trap."

" _Obviously_ " I mumbled in the old carvin language, that would seem like a combination of different rattles and noises for other species. " _What else could it be?_ " Although I heard something move behind me. I looked there, but didn't see anything.

Suddenly our platform was launched into the air for no particular reason. It started to spin as well and I tried really hard to not fall.

"We need a little help here, EDI." Shepard informed through the comms.

"I have trouble with having connection. There is someone else in the system" she replied.

"Do you know that rule to NEVER invite strangers into your house?" I asked her and felt happier. My sense of humor wasn't killed by this whole situation.

But then the platform stopped suddenly. I managed to maintain balance, but Garrus fell on the ground.

"I told you. Don't get too cocky." I smirked and helped him to get back up.

"Shut up. You'll get killed as well if you'll not look behind you." he replied. I did as he said and saw another platform, but this time with some insect-like creatures on it.

"Ah shit. I assume these are Collectors." I asked.

"Yeah, but they have some other powerful forces. This is just cannon fodder." Shepard anwsered and we aimed our weapons at the vessel moving towards us.

"Connection re-established. I need to finish the download before I can override any systems." EDI gave the most useful report in the best moment.

"As if anyone would give a damn." I mumbled and started firing.

With my wallhack vision provided by the visor, I could clearly see their signatures through the covers. It was time to test their abilities. Shepard fired a concussive shot at one soldier making him collapse on the ground and Garrus followed him soon after. I rolled my eyes and aimed for the head of my first victim. My gun was on the semi-automatic mode so the shots were dealing more damage. I pulled the trigger and after a moment the poor soldier was lying on the ground dead. But soon after that the other hostiles started firing at me so I took cover. After a moment, my weapon's sight was integrated with the visor. I looked at the enemies through walls and started shooting from behind the cover without even aiming. Two other soldiers fell dead on the ground as we were proceeding.

"Nice one, keep it up!" Shepard complimented while taking out another enemy. Although my joy didn't last for long as another platforms were incoming. Both were carrying two monstrosities that looked like fat humans affected by the forces of Hell itself.

"Focus on the Scions!" Garrus pointed at them and I just learned their names. Fortunately they were slow enough for us to deal with them quickly. Some of the Collector soldiers started to shine one by one. They started to speak soon after about 'how we are already dead' or 'you need to ascend on the higher level' and stuff like that. They were stronger than normal soldiers and were able to use biotics, but that wasn't something really troubling. After a moment there was no single enemy on the platform.

"Shepard, you must remotely reestablish my connection to the console." EDI reported and we headed towards our objective.

"That wasn't very hard." I commented.

"Yes, but add a few dozen husks to that and double the number of soldiers attacking us." Garrus said. "That's how we felt on the human colony Horizon. I will not mention the Pretorian."

He said that name as if it was something disgusting and scary. Commander meanwhile turned on the console again.

"I have regained control of the platform, Shepard." EDI's visual form suddenly appeared.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down, EDI." he nodded his head.

"I always work at the maximum capacity." she replied as if that was a complement for herself.

"Did you get what we needed?" Commander asked. As much as I didn't like that AI, I was curious about her findings. And it would be good if our effort wasn't for nothing.

"I found data that could help us safely navigate through the Omega 4 Relay." EDI started. "I've also found a turian distress call that served as a lure to this trap. The Collectors were the source of it. It is unusual."

"How so?" I asked. "Seems too logical that they would've lured us into a trap. That mission felt strange to me from the very beggining."

"No, it is unusual because Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption." EDI explained. "It is corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would belive the distress call was genuine."

"Why are you so sure?" Shepard asked and I giggled as I found that question funny. Illusive Man was having some dark secrets and he didn't want us to know about them.

"I found the anomaly with the Cerberus detection protocols." she replied. "He wrote them."

"He knew it was a trap?" Joker's voice suddenly joined the conversation. "Why would he send us into a trap?"

"Oh no... I'm gonna have a little chit-chat with the Illusive Man after this mission." Shepard growled and I a triumphant thought filled my head.

"And here I thought I'd have my betrayal and attempted murder for this year." Garrus sighed.

"Get used to it. We're working with Cerberus after all." I pointed out. "When we come back, I'm gonna show you how bugged our room is. You know I found about 15 of them? Some of them were spared, 'cause I was waiting to show you them."

"Well, seems good for me." he nodded his head as that was probably the only positive thought on this ship right now.

"Uhh Commander? We've got another problem." Joker started. "The Collector's ship is powering up! You need to get out of there before their weapons come online. I'm not loosing another Normandy."

"What a selfish bastard." I chuckled.

"I do not have full control of their systems. I will do what I can." EDI reported. "Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction."

"Come on, let's move!" Shepard waved his hand forward and we started running to the extraction point.

We left the huge tube-like room and went down the hallway that lead us to the room with two doors. The one on the right opened quickly which seemed that EDI was doing her job. I even started to appreciate it.

Our run was interrupted by a small group of Collectors flying towards us. We took them out fast before anyone of them could transform into these yellow bastards. I was surprised that there wasn't more of them already trying to stop us. Maybe they didn't need that much and that thought was troubling me.

The next room wasn't that easy. There were more enemies and I saw a Collector soldier on the high ground that looked like some sort of sentry nest, but without a sentry. it was still troubling as the covers weren't protecting us completely. I pulled out one of my grenades and set it to the 'frag' mode. It flew past a column and landed in the right place. After a moment I could see a decapitated Collector corpse falling down.

Unfortunately our left side was exposed to the enemy as they had fortified their positions there. Shepard and Garrus managed to weaken them a bit with their concussive shots and it gave us advantage to proceed forward. When one of the Collectors was close enough, I activated my knuckle blades in the right hand and stabbed my victim in the throat. There was a quick scream before it fell down. But then I saw a flash of light and noticed the enhanced Collector kneeling down.

"We are the Harbringers of your annihilation." it said and launched a ball of energy at me.

"Yeah yeah, I've heard this one before." I replied him and dashed to the nearby cover while dodging the biotic attack. "I could use some help here!"

"Got it!" Garrus fired his concussive shot which stunned the 'Harbinger'. I think that's how Garrus called the yellow, tough son-of-a-bitch when he spoke about the mission on Horizon.

I used the advantage and peaked out of cover spraying the Harbinger with laser shots. It didn't take too long for him to dissolve into dust because of our bullets and bolts.

"Nice, Garrus." I commented and smirked. "High five!"

"Ha ha. Very funny." he rolled his eyes. "You forgot that we still have enemies in front of us."

I noticed two Collector soldiers approaching. They clearly had a strong desire to kill us. I quickly drew my revolver and shot them with two shots each.

"You said there are some enemies in the room?" I grinned.

"Yes, but... they tripped over for an unknown reason." he replied. "I don't know when did they start to do that."

"Cut the chatter." Commander brought us back to the reality. Only a slap to the face could be better. "I don't know how is it with you, but I wanna get out of here ALIVE!" he really put an accent on the last word.

"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot." I nodded and we moved into the next room. Surprisingly the corridors and halls between the rooms were clear from hostiles.

We jumped down heading towards the nearby exit. It was too quiet here though.

"I'm opening the door on the far side of the room." EDI reported and we noticed what she was talking about. But then we found that there was a big group of husks behind the door.

"Good job, EDI." Garrus sighed as we started to slowly take out the mindless beasts.

I was about to move forward when I heard an earpiercing scream and turned around towards its source. My heart (not the wounded one) stopped beating for a second.

"WHAT DUMB SON-OF-A-BITCH IS THAT!?" I looked at the giant spider-like creature that likely had a 'mouth' full of human skulls. I didn't like it at all.

"Praetorian!" Garrus shouted while punching a thermal clip out of his sniper rifle. "Watch out, it shoots lasers from the eyes!"

He told me that just in time as Pretorian launched two beams at me. I quickly dodged and took cover. IT was obviously the toughest unit of the Collectors here, but I had a plan how to take it out.

When a few husks started to approach my cover, I saw what I needed: Abomination. The normal husks didn't live too long because of their low durability and that left me with my primary target.

The moment when Abomination got close enough to me, I grabbed it quickly and threw at Praetorian. Red husk exploded on the face of the beast, but Praetorian was just standing there as if it was nothing.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked myself and took a different tactic. "Shepard! Garrus! Distract them and I'll flank them!"

They both nodded their heads and started to spray the bullets all over the room giving me a small opening. I quickly ran past most of the Collector forces and aimed at their backs.

"Go to hell." I announced and landed two headshots in the row on the normal Drones. But why weren't they turning around?

Suddenly I felt a punch in the neck from behind. The strength of the attack made me fall on the ground. I lifted my head and saw Harbringer standing above me. He grabbed me by my throat and smashed at the nearby wall making me drop my rifle.

"You are insignificant. You can't escape your destiny." he said and now his head was really close to mine. I felt strange. It was like if his mind was reaching to mine.

Then I saw another image flash in my mind. It lasted for like a five seconds. What I saw was...

'No...' I couldn't belive what I saw. It was an image of slaughter on my people. From one side were the Grox, from another there were Collectors and on the top I saw dozens of giant ships. 'Reapers.'

I suddenly regained consciousness and the Harbringer stepped away from me. All of the Collector forces looked at me at that moment. They seemed hesitated and didn't even pay attention at Shepard and Garrus shooting their backs.

"You have survived long, but your doom is inevitable." Harbringer spoke and aimed his gun at me. I could see his finger on the trigger.

Although my destiny hasn't planned death for me. When he was about to shoot me, a sniper rifle bullet pierced his head. There was a loud shriek and I quickly stood up. Revolver quickly appeared in my hand as I was somehow dodging all the projectiles and beams. My HUD was showing me that I had 27% of shields remaining.

"It's time to find a living shield." I murmured and grabbed one Collector soldier making its friends shoot it to death. Two Scions were standing on my way, but I launched a few spikes from my tail aiming for the bubbles of liquid on their top and back. It held them off long enough for me to grab my assault rifle.

"A little help here!?" I shouted with panic in my voice.

"Help us take out that Praetorian!" Shepard replied.

"Why thanks!" I quickly jumped on the Collector soldier and bounced off to land on the back of the unholy monstrosity. It realized that I was riding it so after a moment I had a problem with balance. The other Collector forces tried to shoot me which caused their most valuable unit to slowly being destroyed. I rolled behind cover and tried to catch my breath. With one heart still out of action I was getting tired faster.

"Nice work, Virox." Garrus complimented as he shot down two more husks.

"Gee thanks, but next time you do that." I managed to say between the deep breaths.

"We should never do that again." Shepard summed up. "That was too dangerous."

"I treasure your care about me, but let's get outta here." I tried to change the topic. We approached the open door that was supposed to lead us to the ship, but then it suddenly closed. "EDI? This isn't funny!"

"A temporary setback on the Firewall 3217. Rerouting commands through Firewall 7164." she replied and shortly after a door on our right opened. "I have succesfully opened the door on the opposite wall. I will keep it open as long as I can."

"Nice job." Garrus nodded and we ran in to get out of here ASAP. After a moment I saw a drop down and it looked familiar.

"Hey, isn't that the way we came in?" I asked, because it would seem likely.

"Yes, we're close." Shepard nodded and waved his hand forward. "Double-time, people!"

Another door was fortunately not blocked, but on the other side I could hear and smell the collector forces.

"Just RUN!" I shouted as every second we were here was getting us closer to horrible and painful death.

Fortunately our enemies consisted of different variaties of Collector drones only. We just sprinted through the room, but the exit was blocked by a Scion.

"Concussive Shots NOW!" Shepard ordered. Two projectiles hit the giant monstrosity (as I didn't use them), but it was still standing, just flinched a bit. I pulled out an EMP grenade and tossed it forward. It didn't do any serious damage to the Scion, though it stunned it him for long enough for us to run pass him.

"Uh Commander, I hate to rush you, but these weapons are about to come online!" Joker spoke in the best moment. "You might double-time, y'know before they blow Normandy in half.

"Got it!" Shepard replied simply. Although what waited for us on the way wasn't going to make it easier for us. At least 20 husks were rushing at us now.

"Shit." I murmured and activated my knuckle blades. "We'll do this the hard way."

"Virox is right, just rush through them!" Garrus nodded at me.

"We don't have good melee weapons." Commander pointed out.

"Then I'll try to clear a path for you while you give me some cover!" I shouted and ran towards the husks. First two got their heads cut off, and the third was thrown at its three more friends stunning them. I saw another few husks getting shot down by my friends behind me. But then two of them jumped at me and because my shields were low from the previous fights, they easily penetrated them.

"AAH! Get... them... off!" I grabbed one and threw it aside, but they were slowly pinning me down. Then I felt pain in my back. It was burning, but the husks stopped moving. I saw Commander with a shotgun.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

"I'll live." I managed to say and started running before the other husks could get to us.

"There is the shuttle! Get inside! NOW!" Shepard yelled at us making sure that everyone was in before he jumped in as well.

After a few seconds we departured and quickly landed in the Normandy's hangar. Shepard ran towards the elevator first and we slowly walked out. I still felt pain in my back, but it was better to have a few bullets in your back than be torn apart by husks.

"We'll get you to Chakwas fast." Garrus said while helping me walk.

"Thanks, I'll need that." I grunted trying to keep myself standing. Then the ship flinched suggesting that we jumped into FTL. "Oh, so we're not gonna die."

"How can you be so casual about this?" he asked me as we walked into the elevator. I hesitated to say this. My past, especially the one from the Great Grox War, was... hard and painful.

"Have you ever saw thousands of turian dead bodies in front of you on the battlefield?" I started.

"Uh no, but I saw the Citadel fleet being torn apart by Sovereign and his geth." he anwsered.

"So you didn't see the bodies..." I nodded slowly.

"I saw death anyway. I knew there were soldiers onboard." Garrus said.

"But when you look at the blood and flesh around you... belive me. It's different." I replied.

"So where did you see your people getting slaughtered?" he asked.

"I..." a bit of doubt appeared in my head. "I'll show you... so you can see it yourself. But later."

"You have the recording?" he sounded surprised.

"It was spared when we were taken to stasis." I quickly explained. "Now let's just go up."

We stopped on the third deck, but saw Miranda, Thane and Samara standing in front of us.

"Commander calls a meeting in the comm room." Cerberus assistant informed us and entered the elevator.

"Great." me and Garrus groaned in perfect unison.

Along with other teammates, we walked into the room where Shepard was waiting for us. When everyone was in, he started to calm everyone down and say that the Illusive Man didn't screw us over. For me it was rather a desperate attempt to keep the team together, but I couldn't know what's in their heads.

"So the Illusive Man didn't sell us out." Jacob summed up. "Could've fooled me."

"Lied to us. Fooled us." Mordin started to count. "Needed access to the Collector databanks. Necessary risk."

"Sweet talk, doc." I joined the conversation. "Tell me if it was so necessary after you are punched in the face by the Harbringer, ride a Pretorian and charge at at least three dozen husks with nothing but melee weapons. If you survive and still think that way, then I'll take these words back. Oh and add to that over 30 Collectors that I killed on the way."

"You were... riding a Praetorian?" Tali asked sounding a bit surprised and confused.

"I even have a recording." I tapped on my wrist computed as it connected to the holotable. After a short while it showed the battle from my point of view.

"Why thanks!" me from the hologram said and I recalled the memory of jumping on the Praetorian. I could hear chuckles, gasps and stiffled giggles, but I didn't mind. It WAS an interesting experience.

"There really wasn't other choice. Let's just hope that the IFF works." Shepard interrupted.

"My analysis is accurate, Shepard." EDI replied. "I have also determined the aproximate location of the Collector homeworld based on the navigational data from their vessel."

The holotable showed a galaxy map with a red circle slowly moving towards the...

'Galactic Core?' I was shocked completely. 'Impossible! The Grox databanks were showing that most of their colonies were there!'

"That can't be right." Miranda said.

"EDI doesn't make mistakes. The Collector homeworld is located somewhere in the Galactic Core." Commander replied.

"Can't be..." Jacob wasn't convinced as well. "The Core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are no habitable planets there."

"Habitable for living beings? No." I joined the conversation after a quick analysis. "But remember that the Collectors aren't living beings anymore. Reapers control them. Maybe a T0 planet with enough space to make a base of some sort."

"T0?" Garrus asked seemingly not knowing what it means.

"Means with no damn life on it." I gave a quick explanation. "But it still doesn't feel right."

"Or it could be an artificial construction." Mordin suggested. "Space station protected by powerful mass effect fields and radiation shields."

"Even the Collectors don't have such technology." Miranda shook her head in disagreement.

"Don't forget that the Collectors are just servants of the Reapers." Shepard pointed out to my great relief as this was such an obvious thing. "We all know what their masters are capable of."

"That still doesn't feel right." I finally decided to share the reason of my doubts. "We downloaded the data from the Grox ships during Great Grox War. It was obviously showing that most of their fleets and colonies are around the Galactic core. They are cyborgs so they don't need a habitable planet."

"How were you able to acquire such data?" Miranda asked showing a clear suspiciousness. "You are just a soldier. Why would someone like to share such data with you?"

A great anger came through my mind and it was hard for me to stop it.

"I was one of the few soldiers that survived the Great Grox War. I fought in almost every big battle. The last one was critical." I tried to hold my emotions back, but her ignorance was making me want to punch a hole in the wall. "We were put to cyro sleep until our race would find a way to heal us. High General Seviros gave us survivors the access to the informations that were found in the wreckages of Grox ships. He said that we deserved this data for the long journey that we went through with him."

"Can you show us some of that data?" Jacob asked.

"No, why would I?" I looked at him with pity. "You're from Cerberus. The only thing I can do is to get some pieces that could prove my words right. It will take some negociations though."

"That's what we can surely take." Shepard finished this topic to my great relief. "Now we should focus on the Omega 4 Relay."

"The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the relay. A region where ships can survive." EDI explained. "Standard relay protocols would not allow safe transport. Drift of several thousand killometers is common and would be fatal in the Galactic Core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the Relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols."

"Just because we can follow the Collectors through the Omega 4 relay doesn't mean we can take them out." Commander said. I strongly agreed with that thought as I didn't want to repeat the ride on Praetorian. "I don't want to go after then until I know we're ready."

"Sooner or later we need that IFF." Jacob shook his head. "I say: why wait?"

"The Collectors outmatch us in numbers and technology." Thane spoke first time during that conversation. "We need to get stronger to at least have a chance of success."

"For once I need to agree with Thane." Samara added. All members of the team knew the relationship between these two. A killer and a Justicar aren't a very good combination, but we tried to make them socialize with eachother a bit. It didn't end well.

"The more people we have on our side, and the stronger we are as we are now, the better our chance of success." Commander stated ending the discussion on this topic.

"It's your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we're with you." Jacob nodded.

People started to walk out of the room and I went down to the main battery with Garrus.

"So you were supposed to show me how highly our room is bugged. Why don't you do that now?" turian asked.

"Heh, I knew you wouldn't forget that." I chuckled. While we were walking, I wrote something on my wrist computed. Seviros needed to know about this.

 **(Meanwhile on Seviros' flagship Relentless) No-one's POV**

Doing any kind of negociations with the Council species was now a LOT easier. The councilors even made carvins a proposition to join some of their fleets with the Citadel Defense Fleet. High General Council decided to agree and sent one of their members with his fleet to the Citadel. This member turned out to be Seviros.

Now the High General was standing on the bridge of his flagship. As much as the relationships with other parts of Citadel Defense Fleet weren't the best, he did everything he could to improve them. He even devoted some of his engineers to make small improvements to the ships of volounteering captains. The one thing that the carvin general knew was that cooperation was crucial now, especially when the reputation of the carvins was really bad. Although there was no technological exchange.

Seviros was just checking the report about another successful treaty about carvins being given permission to join the Andromeda Initiative, when a message appeared on his wrist computer.

'So Virox didn't forget about us.' he smiled weakly and started to read the message. Slowly the smile turned into a full-serious expression. Seviros knew that one of his best soldiers wouldn't lie to him about something that important.

'I saw something. It was like the Collector soldier burnt an image in my head. It showed our species fighting with them and the Grox at once.' he read in his mind. 'Another thing is that the assumed location of the Collector base is in the Galactic Core. Maybe they cooperate. Don't need to sound the alarm, just stay on your guard. Also I request access to show Shepard the coincidence with Grox colonies in the Galactic Core. No valuable intel will be shown. Virox out.'

Seviros stopped reading and started to analyse the possibilities. Maybe the Grox were working with the Collectors to strike at the carvins again. Or it was something else. Both scenarios were worrying him.

"General?" an officer pulled him out of his thoughts. "We recieved a report on the strange vessel flying through the colony on Qreten in Phanson Nebula."

"Specify." general ordered.

"It seemed to be a scout vessel. Unarmed. It quicly left the system after we found it, but we managed to scan it. Here is the data about it." officer handled him a datapad.

"Good. Inform me immediately if similar reports will come." Seviros said. "We don't want any surprises."

"Yes sir!" carvin officer saluted and walked away.

Now High General was almost sure that Virox's speculations were correct. Although the Phanson Nebula wasn't connected to the Mass Relay network, so only carvin ships could reach it effectively with the Grox technology. If the Collectors would attack any colony in this system, none of the Citadel races would respond. Carvins were on their own. Fortunately Seviros was the one that founded and protected the colony on Qreten. It was a rich in different minerals, materials and food. Loosing such valuable planet would be a great hit to the Carvin Empire.

"Send message to Qreten that I order a level 2 heightened alert." he ordered to his comm lieutenant.

If only all carvins knew what was coming.

 **A/N: So yeah, this took me longer than I expected. And YES, I AM planning to do a giant plot twist next chapter. This story isn't going to be exactly the same as the game, just with Virox in the crew. I need to somehow put carvins into the Coun-OOOPSH! No spoilers! BUT as you probably saw from the last part, I'm gonna write a story based on Mass Effect Andromeda. There will be minor changers like: Initiative starts when Shepard is alive. I thought about Virox getting mad at Miranda during the talk in the comm room, but then decided to not implement it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave a review to say what did you think and what could I improve. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	8. Surprise attack

**A/N: Ok, so I did my finals well and now I have more time to write for you guys. Finally I can put this damn stress aside and focus on relaxing. And by the way, HOW MANY OF YOU ALREADY PRE-ORDERED MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA? I JUST DID! I am so excited about this and I'm checking the website almost everyday. I announce that I WILL write a Spore x Mass Effect: Andromeda fic. AND it WILL be a continuation to that story. But first...**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **goddrakonking: I have more time now so... I'll post more often. And I'm also very happy that you like the story so far.**

 **Dodles: Yes, and this chapter is devoted to this. You foresaw what will happen. As for the galactic core, I will make it mostly the same like in the game. Just interactions with the teammates on the stations might be a bit different (meaning - choosing who should go do what etc). I am also going to include a little easter eggs that should put the mystery of the carvin past together and reveal the truth. I was actually doing that for a long time, so if you have any theories, I'll listen.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Carvin colony on Qreten, no-one's POV (5 days after the events from the previous chapter)**

It was high noon for the capital of the carvin colony on Qreten. Skycars were flying everywhere as if it was going to be another peaceful day. But deep inside even carvin younglings knew that something was up.

Through the swarms of skycars, many military shuttles could be seen moving from one outpost to another. Anti-air turrets recieved maintenance and were ready for anything that would come towards the planet. The giant planetary Ion cannon even fired a few 'test' bolts to check if it's at its maximum power. That massive A-shaped building was able to subdue a dreadnought with a couple of shots.

On the orbit all scout outposts were delivering reports every minute about everything that was going on in the system. 1 space station, 4 cruisers, 6 frigates and 10 corvettes were stationed around the colony accompanied by swarms of fighters. Space station was the heart of the orbital defense that was bigger than a dreadnought and had more firepower than one. It would seem that they were ready.

"Sir, we've lost contact with the outpost 7!" one of the crewmen reported to the space station commander. "Wait! Impossible! 2 and 5 are also gone!"

"Prepare for attack!" the commander gave orders. "Send the message to the High Generals! We need to-"

But he stopped as three two-kilometer long ships left the FTL in front of them (A/N: Just to ensure you - an artice on mass effect wiki says that the Collectors are known to possess many of these ships). They looked like if they were covered in asteroids and in the middle of each there was a giant tube that could be a main gun.

"Orders, sir?" officer asked.

"Gather our forces and prepare the Ion cannon!" commander shouted. "And patch me through to the High General council. Send the distress call as well! NOW!"

As three unknown ships were closing in, the carvin defense fleet gathered around the space station. Carvin commander was staring at the holotable in front of him looking for a loading bar that represented the process of Ion cannon charging. As the bar was filled completely, he clicked on the closest of the strange ships.

"Fire!" he shouted and after a few seconds, five energy bolts passed the space station hitting their target directly. The ship seemed to slow down and some of the lights on it turned off, but it kept going.

"Sir, the shields of the enemy ship are down, but their weapon systems are still fully operational!" someone called.

"Order the cannon to fire at will! We need some cover." commander replied. "And order the fleet to engage the closest ship!"

The carvin fleet started to fly towards the weakened target, but as soon as they went into range, the big hole in the middle of the enemy vessel started to glow. Carvin commander could only watch helplessly as the beam was launched from it tearing apart one of his frigates. Two another ships started to charge and obliterated two more ships after a moment.

"Holy mother of all that's merciful!" he whispered in fright as the enemy ships were obviously targeting the space station now. "To the escape pods!"

A beam of yellow light hit the station slowly tearing it apart. During all this, dozens of escape pods were launched from the structure as carvin forces were getting brutally destroyed.

 **Normandy, Virox's POV**

As a proper user of extranet, I finally started to legally browse the information on it and not take it from our spies. The most popular topic now was this Andromeda Initiative and it caught my attention as well. Human female Jien Garson founded this project to build a fleet of highly advanced ships and send them with the colonists to the Andromeda Galaxy.

As I was sitting on the floor reading about the Nexus, Garrus approached me from the right. It seemed that he finished his daily routine of calibrating. He looked at the image displayed by my wrist computer.

"Interested in the same topics I see." I heard him saying.

"Well, it's hard not to be interested." was my reply. "The most advanced technology in our galaxy gathered for one project."

"Your people aren't exactly willing to share your tech." Garrus pointed out and it was hard not to agree.

"Can you blame us?" I sighed. "I mean the first thing you did was abducting me and then attacking our fleets above the Citadel. AND General Seviros finally agreed to give you our newest FTL drive tech that we've got from the Grox."

"Hmm, fair enough." he nodded. "You were lucky to meet these Grox."

I stopped my hand right above the button when I heard that. I liked Garrus, but that was... unacceptable.

"Lucky?" I asked him. "You think that our race almost going extinct only for some technology was good?"

"OK, sorry. I know that I shouldn't enrage you or you'll tear me apart." he quickly corrected himself and put his hands up in reassuring gesture. "Don't wanna repeat our first encounter."

"Agreed. My second heart just fully healed." I let out a sigh of relief as my anger weakened. Jokes were usually affecting my rage immediately. It just depended on if it was good or bad.

But then a red dot appeared on my wrist computer. I noticed that it was a message. An automated message. I opened it and saw a standard emergency protocol for colony defenses under attack. This message was from Qreten.

I quickly got up nearly hitting Garrus by the way and stormed out of the room. I needed to tell that to Shepard.

"Virox? What the-" I didn't pay attention right now as the colony was more important. Over hundread thousand lives were at stake.

 **Garrus' POV**

He literally almost rammed himself at me.

"Virox? What the-" He literally almost rammed himself at me, but it seemed that he didn't notice as he ran out of the main battery room. "What could possibly make him do that?"

I walked out as well and saw stunned Cerberus crewmen looking towards the elevator. They didn't move and it seemed like if the Collector swarms attacked them.

"Ok, so I guess Virox passed this way." I broke the silence making everyone look at me. They all nodded still being stunned. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

I walked towards the elevator and stopped next to EDI's terminal.

"EDI, do you know what's up with Virox?" I asked the AI.

"I don't know, but when he went to the elevator. He said that commander must know about it immediately."

"Huh, and where is Shepard?"

"Right now Commander is in the meeting room talking with Virox." she responded.

"Thanks." I said and entered the elevator. After a short while the door opened on the deck 2. I turned left and went through the armory where Jacob obviously experienced the surprise of my friend being here. I passed him in silence and opened the door to the meeting room where Shepard and Virox were standing in front of eachother.

"We need to help them! Seviros will gather his forces close to the relay and we can join them!" carvin's tone was full of fear and desperation.

"Which relay is the closest?" commander asked.

"The one from Eagle Nebula." Virox replied. "There we can get a pickup from the 6th fleet."

"Umm, Virox? I don't want to interrupt you, but I just wanted to check what happened." I joined the conversation a bit uncertain of the outcome. "You almost traumatized the entire crew."

"Oh, I didn't mean to, but now I need to prepare. You should go calibrate your sniper rifle too." he looked a bit embarrassed and after a while ran out of the room, but this time a bit slower than last time.

I watched him leave for a moment and then turned towards the commander.

"Ok, so what was that about?" I asked. "It wasn't a mental breakdown or something like that?"

"No, something far worse." he replied while heading towards the exit. I joined him in silence waiting for the explanation. "Three Collector cruisers attacked carvin colony. Unfortunately it is out of range of any mass relays and the journey would take a few days with our engines. We'll get a pickup from the carvin fleet to take us there."

"We met one cruiser... and it obliterated the first Normandy." I was utterly shocked. "And the Collectors have sent THREE of them on the carvins?"

"I know, it's strange. Until now they seemed to be interested only in human colonies." Shepard nodded as we approached the galaxy map. "As you and Virox are best friends I'll send you both together again. I don't want to repeat the incident with Miranda."

"Oh, yeah. I don't want to do that either." I chuckled on the reminding. Last time when these two went on a mission together, Miranda called his species 'mindless beasts' due to their rage. She said that even the krogan aren't that wild. Virox didn't say anything just punched her in the stomach making her shot herself in a foot by an accident. I still can't belive how that happened though. "So I guess we'll finally see the carvins both on the ground and in space combat."

"Yeah, but don't get too excited. We might not survive this one." Shepard pointed out and it was hard not to agree. I sighed and made my way to the shuttle bay. But my gut feeling was telling me that this fight will be different than I expected.

 **Shepard's POV, 1 hour later**

I told Garrus to not get too excited, but right now I felt like a hypocryte. I only saw carvins in space combat and they were utterly outmatching the Citadel defense fleet. We need every ally for the upcoming war with the Reapers. Aaaand maybe someone will finally agree that this whole invasion is REAL.

"Joker what's the good word? How long till we reach the relay?" I asked entering the cockpit

"About 3 minutes, Commander." he replied. "I just hope we won't repeat the situation from our first encounter with the carvins."

"On that we can agree." I smiled weakly on the reminding. Much time had passed, but something like that is hard to forget. Although now we could heal the wounds and become strong allies. "EDI, are the weapon systems all fully operational?"

"Yes, Garrus had just increased the main gun's precision by 0,27 %. Shields are optimalized to protect the Normandy from the Collectors' main gun." EDI reported. "We are leaving the FTL in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

After the last number, a well-known flash hit my eyes as we entered the system. In front of me there was a huge fleet consisting mostly from heavy cruisers and frigates, but it was lead by three giant two-kilometer dreadnoughts. On the back of the fleet two other dreadonought-sized ships were waiting. Probably Carriers. I recognized the flagship of the fleet that seemed to be longer by about 500 meters than other vessels of it's type.

"Relentless." I recalled and my thoughts were quickly confirmed as the screen above the pilot seat activated. It showed the very first carvin we've talked to.

"Welcome, Commander Shepard. It seems that we meet again under quite similar circumstances." High General Seviros welcomed me. "But this time sharing the same goal."

"You could say that." I nodded my head slowly and suddenly remembered that we were asking them for a ride after all. "Where can we dock so you can transport us?"

"My flagship has a big hangar on the bottom of it's hull. It should have enough space for you to fit in." carvin leader replied calmly. "Just don't try anything stupid or... we'll need to clear the debris from the hulls of our ships."

"Mhm..." I didn't know how to comment such statement. It sounded cold, but it was clear that Seviros had a sense of humor, even in such weird form.

The Normandy quickly positioned herself below the ship and I saw the hangar he was talking about. As we were docked, two little fighter bays could be seen on both sides as well.

"Damn, they really seem to be in mood for some ass kicking." Joker commented while admiring the view.

"I detect increased power usage in the dreadnought's engines." EDI reported. "We will jump into FTL in a few seconds."

The moment she said that, the ship flinched as we began our journey. The view was different though. Instead seeing multiple traces of light, I saw waves of multiple colours forming into a tube-like tunnel.

"Wow." I said being impressed by the view. "That's not a normal FTL."

"Feel free to admire the view, Commander." Seviros spoke through the comms. "Do it while you have time. We're gonna fight a formidable battle and maybe even die."

'OK, that was a bit creepy.' I felt a chill going down my spine so decided to change the subject. "What were the last reports from the colony?"

"Only that most of the fleet is destroyed along with the defense space station." he said in serious tone. "Also we think that the planetary Ion Cannon was captured or destroyed. We need to retake it if there is a possibility."

"I'll prepare my team. Virox will obviously go with me." I replied and started to walk out of the cockpit. "Joker, when we go down there, you stay with the Carvin forces and try to do as much damage as you can."

"Aye aye, Commander." pilot nodded and adjusted his cap. "Guess it will be a hell of a fight."

"You don't say." I smirked, but couldn't get a bad feeling out of my head that this is bigger than we all think.

Maybe even bigger than the Reapers.

 **Virox's POV, 5 minutes later**

Shepard went down to the deck 5 and along with Garrus we took a seat in the shuttle. It was unknown how badly Collectors have weakened colony's defenses. I just hoped that my people were alright and that these bastards haven't yet breached to the capital.

A known flinch showed that we left the FTL and soon after the hangar opened. The view was... terrifying.

About 1 frigate and 2 corvettes along with a few fighter squadrons was all that survived the attack till now. Three Collector cruisers were bombarding the planet while surrounded by swarms of small fighters for protection.

I set my communicator on the right frequency and a second later grabbed my head from pain.

"Get it off me!"

"I can't shake him!"

"Zevon 6 is down! I repeat - Zevon 6 is down!"

"We are taking heavy fire!"

"Requesting assistance at sector NX-25!"

All of these reports came to me at once disorienting me for a few seconds

"Ahh!" I turned off the comm putting an end to the painful shoutings.

"What is it Virox?" Shepard asked. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just wanted to raise someone, but it's too big noise. My head hurts." I anwsered him still holding my head. "We need to help them fast."

"Shepard, it is very dangerous to fly through these swarms of fighters." EDI warned us.

"Don't worry, Commander. We've got your back." Seviros contacted us. It was kind of scary that he managed to establish connection without our confirmation. "Just land safely with our troops and take back that Ion Cannon. Our scanners indicate that it is still operational."

"We'll do that." Shepard replied and made sure that he had his rifle full of thermal clips. I still didn't understand why they switched from the old system to this one. That seemed like a way backwards.

"Alright everyone! Prepare to engage after the first strike!" carvin general started to give orders. "It is time to bring BIG guns."

"What is he talking about?" Garrus asked suspiciously. "He won't fire at us?"

"No, just watch and admire the view." I grinned (though they didn't know that) as I knew what was going to happen. Improvements of the main guns of dreadnoughts and cruisers were going to be very useful.

The moment I said that, all the mentioned ships started to charge their laser beams. Although this time it was not going to be lasers. The ships unleashed dozens of Ion beams targeting the Collector vessels. All of the unfortunate fighters that got in the way were quickly deactivated due to the short circut. Enemy cruisers' lights started to flick a bit, but they slowly started to turn towards the fleet.

"Oh..." turian didn't know what to say. "Why don't we have such gun?"

"It's expensive and Normandy is too small. And the calibration wouldn't be required." I told him. "Need any more arguments or can we finally get to work?"

"Ok, I don't want it anymore." he sighed in disappointment.

"Heads up! We've got Collector fighters incoming!" Shepard cut the chatter. And he was right. About 50 fighters, if not more, were heading towards our shuttle. I could almost hear the Harbringer's voice in my mind. It was creepy.

"Oh crap." Garrus suddenly tightened his grip on the seat. "I'm too handsome to die."

"Handsome is the last trait I would give you." Even in critical situations I always had my sense of humor. "I mean your face is barely holding in one piece."

Then the shuttle shaked violently as we probably got hit by the Collector fighter. I looked through the camera and saw a few dozens of them chasing us. But two seconds later the only thing I saw were explosions everywhere and after that a squadron of carvin interceptors around us.

"Sorry we're late." the leader spoke through the comm. "We'll escort you to the surface. Our shuttles are a bit behind you so try to hold on for some time after you get there."

"Copy that." I said just before Shepard opened his mouth. "Oh, sorry."

"No problem. You are our 'ambassador' with your species." he raised his hand in reassuring gesture and then pulled out his Vindicator assault rifle. "We'll touch down soon. Ready your weapons!"

I did as he said. Cooling device of CAR - 26 was operational on the semi-auto firing mode, ammo set on anti-organic, SR -12 revolver set in it's primary mode, with apropriate ammo as well, my cyber implants were set in combat mode and my shields were fully charged.

Sounds of fight could be heard even here so we quickly stood up and leaned against the shuttle door. A LOT of explosion noise were coming from outside. That didn't encourage close combat.

"Alright, we go in 3! 2! 1!" Shepard counted down and the hatch opened. "GO GO GO!"

All three of us jumped right into the carvin entrenchments. They were positioned in a wreckage of our destroyed corvette that probably crashed here. I saw about 12 soldiers by now and no brutes forward. In front of us there was about 30 Collector soldiers including 6 Scions and one Praetorian.

"We've got reinforcements!" one of our troopers shouted.

"Maintain positions!" another one yelled.

We quickly leaned against the trenches and started taking down the Collector forces. Fortunately there were no husks to deal with first, so weakening the enemy was much easier.

I aimed carefully and put a hole between the eyes of my first victim. Then I started to fire at the Scion, that got a bit too close to the trenches. Knowing that it's weak point was the liquid bag on the top of it, a grenade quickly appeared in my hand. I threw it at the Scion which was then stunned by explosion. It kneeled down for a moment long enough to fully expose it's liquid bag. I sprayed the weak spot with a volley of laser bolts, and when it blew up, Scion didn't get up.

Other soldiers seemed to notice what I did and after a few seconds all the Scions were dead. That left only Praetorian as Shepard and Garrus quickly cleared out the infantry.

The mighty beast (and my unholy nemesis) screeched in anger and stomped on the ground launching a shockwave that pushed us back.

"Aim for the eyes!" I Shepard ordered. "We can disarm it!"

But there was no need for that, because a moment later, there was nothing to disarm. All the ground in front of us turned into one big explosion. I covered my eyes to protect them from debris and then turned around. About 20 shuttles and gunships landed on the field behind us. Some of the ships transported tanks and from what I saw we now had a group of 8 heavy tanks.

"Commander Shepard! Over here!" carvin voice echoed through the trenches. I noticed a fortified high ground and one of our soldiers in there. Probably the commander of this defense line.

We slowly walked to meet with that guy while looking at the other troopers in the trenches. I don't know how many dead we've passed, but it was a LOT. The rest was wounded and now Seviros' medics were trying to patch them up. We climbed on the high ground and approached the leader of this defense.

"Commander Shepard." he said again. "Under different circumstances I'd punch you in the face for abducting our people, but I'm really glad that you made it here."

"Hey, Shepard is a nice guy. And I am the abduced one so take my word." I sticked up for the Commander.

"Alright, fine. You can call me Kalzar." we shook our hands "We've got a bit of support now, but my people are heavily wounded. They won't make it to the Ion Cannon without a rest." defense leader stated. "You need to get there with the troops you have. Fortunately this is the closest secure position to get to the cannon."

"So we're going for frontal assault?" Shepard asked. "The soldiers won't resist?"

"They know what's at stake. We can't loose this colony and one of the most important High Generals in one battle." Kalzar shook his head. "When we'll get a bit of rest, we might join you, but no promises. The only thing I can give you for sure is the information on the enemy defenses."

"How did you get this intel?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"My boys were assigned to guard the Ion Cannon, but we were given order to retreat." he explained. "They are probably bunkered up around the cannon and using our own equipement against us. Expect heavy anti-vehicle fire and watchtowers full of these bug-like things."

"Thanks, we'll be careful." Commander shook the Kalzar's hand and we walked away.

"Come on! We don't have all day!" I heard a shout. It came from the Seviros' troops.

"Oh, they are getting impatient." I said pointing at the source of the noise. "We should get moving."

"Your people are strange, Virox." Garrus commented. "They seem to be really happy about fighting something that is obviously stronger. And the possibility of death doesn't really matter for them."

"It's just how we are. Fighting unknown is more interesting." I grinned and all three of us joined the batallion.

 **(10 minutes later)**

Finally we reached the Ion Cannon. Or rather the range of the Collector defenders around it. Now it was really damn hard to breach through them. We were slowly progressing though, and with each fortification taken out, it was going faster.

Our tank just blew up a watchtower with two Scions on it. A beautiful explosion combined with a smell of burning bodies. Ahh... perfect.

"Keep pushing guys!" I shouted after killing two Collector foot soldiers with two short volleys of laser bolts.

We've been trying to get a little air support, but with all of these Collector forces on the orbit, it was hard to get it. But now it would really come in handy. Like REALLY.

From our 8 heavy tanks we had only 5 left and it was getting worse with every minute. Our soldiers were in better situation since they were harder to hit and most of the watchtowers were destroyed.

"We won't hold for very long if we won't do anything!" Garrus shouted after blowing up a head of Harbringer. "Our tanks are getting torn to shreds! We need to take out this artillery cannon!"

He was right. Behind the main line of defense there was one surviving artillery cannon that was now obliterating our tanks. We needed to take it out somehow.

"Virox! Garrus! Go with me! We'll try to flank them!" Shepard called us from the front. Then he turned towards the nearest carvin soldier. "Provide as much cover fire as you can! Keep them distracted and we'll take out that cannon!"

"Yes sir!" trooper nodded his head. I was a bit surprised that they took commander's orders so easy. But there were more important things to do.

When all three of us were together, the main distraction started. Soldiers switched to fully automatic fire and were now spraying the defenses with weak laser bolts. That only needed to keep them at bay for a moment. We quickly ran towards the wall of the base and I positioned myself near it.

"Come on, I'll boost you there and join after that." I tangled my hands in a way that could fit for their feet. Shepard was first and I boosted him on the wall pretty easily. Next there was Garrus. But when I boosted him, it was like if I was holding a krogan. "Ah! Vakarian, did you eat a thresher maw yesterday?"

"Sorry." he apologized from the top. I quickly jumped up and, using my increased agility, quickly joined my friends. Then an explosion was heard. I kind of hoped that it was an enemy position, but I was disappointed. We just lost another tank and it's wreckage was now in flames.

'Fuck. We need to take out that thing ASAP.' I started to panick.

"There it is!" Shepard whispered pointing on our target. It was indeed our anti-vehicle artillery mounted by a Collector. "How are we planning to deal with it?"

"I know a way. Just need to quickly take out the operator and give me like 20 seconds." I said not really sure if my idea is going to work, but now we were desperate and couldn't afford loosing another tank.

"Ok, we'll engage on your mark Virox." Commander nodded. I quickly got closer to the cannon.

"Hmm, 4 guards and the operator." I studied the area around the target. "I'll take him out while you get the rest. On 3." I took a deep breath and started counting. "One. Two. THREE!"

I activated my knuckle blades and punched the Collector operator in the head. Now he had 4 little holes in it due to the blades. After that I quickly switched the gun's mode to 'cooling' and the sphere with hot air popped out on the right. I pulled out my revolver and shot a hole in the middle of the main air container. Now the way from outside to the energy core was open. A grenade appeared in my hand as I cleared the hole from metal.

"Do your job, baby." I smirked and let the explosive ball roll into the tunnel I've made. Quickly after that I waved to my friends "OK, STAY BACK! We'll watch!"

Fortunately my plan worked perfectly as the artillery cannon turned into a beautiful ball of fire.

"Hell yeah! Nice job guys!" we heard cheers from the comms. "Now let's catch them in a crossfire! Make them burn!"

And so we did. All three of us started to slowly take out the Collector infantry to divide their attention. It seemed to work on the beggining, but then a very familiar screech was heard from the back.

We turned around and saw another Praetorian accompanied by 5 Collector soldiers.

'Why? Why does it have to be you?' I thought as I was getting bored with them appearing in the worst moments of all battle. Now WE were trapped in a crossfire.

Praetorian charged at us and released a shockwave at the same time. I managed to dodge it's giant spikey legs by a miracle, but Garrus and Shepard weren't as lucky. Big son-of-a-bitch rammed at them at full speed making them stunned for a while.

For a second I thought about riding the Praetorian to distract it from my friends, but then changed my mind. I had only two grenades left and needed to work fast as that big fuck was getting closer to Shepard and Garrus.

"Hey, ugly!" I shouted at it and threw grenade at it's face. Praetorian screeched in pain, but didn't fall. It started to shoot particle beams at me that I easily dodged. With the corner of my eye I saw Collector main defenses break down under the assault of our batallion, but didn't pay much attention on that.

My enemy started to get impatient and charged at me in attempt to crush me between it's shell and the base wall. I dodged that and then another shots came from behind me. It was Shepard and Garrus who recovered from stunn. Praetorian didn't like it much, but this time it was floating in the air and slowly reduced the distance from us. Unfortunately there was no cover here and when I saw Praetorian shoot it's particle beams, Garrus got hit immediately.

In a desperate attempt of rescue I pushed him off the line of fire. His shields miraculously absorbed most of the damage, but he was still wounded.

"Ahh crap!" turian groaned in pain. "Why does it have to be me?"

"Shut up!" I shouted as the Praetorian ignored Shepard shooting at it and headed towards us. We didn't have any heavy weapons to even take it's barriers down. Nevertheless I stood in front of wounded Garrus to protect him. But it was not necessary.

Praetorian landed down for a moment and it was it's mistake. One of our tanks literally rammed into it's ass with the main gun. The beast tried to turn around, but the tank was faster and started to shoot. I could see the fire coming out of the Praetorian's 'mouth' and soon it disintegrated into dust.

"Hell yeah!" tank operator peaked out of the vehicle and held his fist up in triumphant gesture. "Take that, you ugly, four-eyed bugs!"

Other soldiers followed and started cheering as well, but we had other things to do. Garrus was critically wounded. My scanner showed that most of his chest has been burne badly.

"Shep, Garrus won't come farther. He needs medical attention." I said.

"Alright, I'll contact the Normandy to take him and bring us someone else." Commander nodded and pressed the button on his helmet. "Who do you want with us?"

"Defianetely not Cerberus cheerleader." I grinned as I still remembered our little argument. "She would either die or become traumatized for the rest of her life."

"OK, then how about Grunt?" he asked. "I mean he has powerful shotgun and is a traditional type of tank-ish guy. Perfect for close-quarter fight."

"Agreed. And I don't have any problems with him." I nodded. "Grunt is a nice guy, though we need to educate him a bit. He is not even 1 year old and his lack of knowledge or inteligence is... problematic sometimes."

Shepard tried to raise the Normandy while I went to check on our batallion. All 4 tanks were fully operational and we also had 40 foot soldiers alive and ready for battle. The injured ones would stay here until we take control of the Ion cannon. Though I was worried that we might not have enough soldiers to do that.

"Specialist Virox to Relentless, do you copy?" I activated my long-range communicator. If there was anything that we needed now to retake the cannon, it was reinforcements.

"This is High General Seviros. Good work with the outer defenses, Specialist." Seviros greeted me. "Anything you need?"

"I request reinforcements. We're down to 4 tanks out of 8 and 40 soldiers might not be enough to retake the Ion cannon." I explained our problem. "And we also need some defense from Collector forces outside. Just in case."

"I understand. We managed to take out one of the cruisers as you were fighting down there. I'll send... wait! Evasive maneuvers!" he suddenly shouted. I heard a noise from behind and saw the Ion cannon power up. 5 energy bolts were launched from it to space and their target was obviously Relentless. "We've been hit! Virox, I'll send as much forces to you as I can. Take control of that cannon fast or the Collectors will tear our fleet apart!"

"Roger that." I quickly ended the transmission and turned towards Shepard. "Commander! How long till the shuttle will arrive!?"

"They just entered the atmosphere! Grunt will join us soon." he shouted back. "I assume we need to hurry up."

"You could say that." I quickly nodded and waved at the carvin soldiers. "Alright guys! We'll get some support very soon! If we won't take back that cannon, we're DEAD! This is bigger than any of us! Now prepare for breach!"

Surprisingly all of them saluted me and started gathering around different entrances. Tanks took positions around the base to protect it in case of the counteratack and we were only waiting for Grunt and carvin reinforcements.

"There he is!" Shepard pointed on the small dot on the sky. It got closer and then turned into a Cerberus shuttle. Inside there was Grunt and Doctor Chakwas. "Come on. We need to take Garrus inside."

I grabbed the turian by his legs, while the Commander did the same with the arms. We lifted him slowly and headed towards the shuttle. Grunt already left it seemingly exploding with enthusiasm.

"HAHA! Where are these weaklings that need some killing!?" he yelled.

"Don't you worry, you'll get something to kill very soon." I anwsered him as we walked into the shuttle. Then I turned towards Chawkas. "Doctor, please don't let that bastard die."

"I'll do what I can, as always." she replied calmly and pointed the a spot on the floor. "Place him here and go. I'll take care of him."

As we left, our reinforcements arrived. I noticed about 10 tanks and 15 shuttles full of troops including normal Foot Soldiers, Shielders and Brutes. The last ones were going to be really useful.

"It seems that your general has delivered us a bit of backup." Shepard said while studying our support. "And who are these lonely guys without any ranged weapons?"

I saw what he was talking about. Brutes were... rather controversial topic in our military, but we couldn't deny their effectiveness.

"They are Brutes. Have special medical condition that makes them easier to enrage. Their rage is also stronger than in other carvins so they train a lot to learn how to utilize it properly." I explained as neutrally as I could. "Biotic and Brute in one is the most deadly combination known, but it's expensive to get one. You'll see their capabilities in the fight."

"Ok, works for me." he gave me a quick nod. "Let's get to it."

"Hehehe!" Grunt let out an evil laugh.

We positioned ourselves in front of the biggest door with most of the soldiers. Our lovely krogan volounteered to stand right in front of it while me and Shepard stood on the sides.

"Alright, activating breaching charges!" one of the soldiers said. "3! 2! 1!"

BOOM!

"YEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGG!" Grunt let out a warcry and ran into smoke created by explosion with us on his heels. Collectors, though prepared for attack, probably didn't expect an angry krogan rushing forward with giant fire support. He literally slammed his Claymore shotgun into Scion's head and then blew it up.

"Keep up! We need to reach the command center!" Shepard ordered. "Double time or the fleet will be torn to shreds!"

Everyone did as he said and our Brutes suddenly rushed forward at Collector soldiers. Seeing an easy target, the bugs started firing with hope to kill them. I grinned knowing that this was a grave mistake. The Brutes grabbed their wounded parts of the body, but after a few seconds they let out an earpiercing screech in perfect unison. That was enough. They rushed forward with increased speed and quickly caught up with Grunt. One of them slammed his fist at the Collector soldier so hard that he punched a hole in his stomach and pulled out something that... probably used to be a heart.

"Hey! That one was mine!" Grunt sounded pretty upset as he stomped on the Collector's head, crushing it in result. But the Brutes didn't care as they were enraged. Soldiers, Husks, Abominations, even Scions were being brutally murdered by our bloodthirsty warriors.

One Brute grabbed an Abomination, tore it's head off and threw it at the group of unlucky Collectors. They weren't dead for a moment, but that changed three seconds later as another Brute, with his knuckle blades activated, stabbed them all to death.

The battle was going well for us and other groups were reporting decreased Collector activity on the way. The obvious explanation for that was an angry krogan and a bunch of angry carvins in our group. We sometimes needed to run after them as they were anihilating our enemies so fast.

"Damn, I only counted 5 confirmed kills on my account by now." I said in disappointment. "How about you, Shepard?"

"I dunno. Something around that as well." he anwsered in equally disappointed tone. We were doing bad comparing to them. Like REALLY. "We should get moving."

"Yeah." I sighed and started running towards the source of the screams and agony.

Surprisingly we seemed to really slowly catch up with the group. It would suggest that they are still advancing quickly. After a short while we saw Grunt pointing his shotgun at a Collector soldier and blowing it off, while the Brutes were decapitating the rest soldiers or their corpses. The only thing that separated us from the command center was the armored door in front of us.

"Alright people, the fun here is over. We take the point now. Can't afford on destroying Ion cannon's controls." Shepard ordered as our Brutes just calmed down.

"Grunt, did you have fun?" I asked the young krogan who looked at me and grinned.

"Hehe, it was great. These enemies were worth fighting, but killing them... ahh that was a pleasure itself." he replied. "We should do this more often."

"Only if it doesn't mean another invasion on one of our colonies." I pointed out.

"I wouldn't mind." he commented.

"Asshole." I grumbled, but knew that it was a joke. Even Grunt had some kind of GOOD sense of humor. Unlike Miranda.

We stood in front of the door quietly. There was no way for breaching charges to destroy it so we needed to wait for our hackers to override the security. Fortunately it was weakened after Collectors came here.

"Almost done." our egghead reported as he was clicking something on his wrist computer. "Aaaaand... OK, we can breach now!"

Everyone felt silent. Shepard held a hand in the air and started to count down. 3. 2. 1. And the moment he put his hand down, the door opened and all of us started shooting every visible hostile inside. I even got one for myself. It was an achievement if almost 20 guys were shooting through the same door. We cleared the command center just in time as the Collectors were trying to launch a strike again.

"Alright people! Get that thing operational and target one of the Collector cruisers!" I ordered and then turned on my comm. "General Seviros, this is Virox. We've taken control of the Ion Cannon. Targeting the first Collector ship."

"Great work, Virox. We'll not let you down." general replied and I hoped that they will deal with these ships fast.

 **Meanwhile on Qreten's orbit, No-one's POV**

Carvin ships, though suffered significant losses, were still trying to take out the Collector cruisers. Fortunately most of the enemy aircraft was destroyed so the fighters and bombers could attack the bigger ships with no problem.

The Collector ships on the other hand were heavily damaged, but still kept attacking the carvin 6th fleet. Although it was hard because the faster corvettes and frigates were attacking them from flanks and consistantly weakening their armor.

Suddenly one of the Collector cruisers was hit by 5 powerful Ion bolts. Its lights flickered for a moment and then it turned off for good.

"It is unprotected! Now is our chance!" General Seviros ordered from his flagship Relentless, which suffered only minor damage to it's armor through the whole battle. "Fire everything you've got!"

The whole carvin fleet obeyed that order without hesitation. All of the laser beams started to slowly cut through the tough armor of the enemy cruiser. After 20 seconds ship exploded and it's parts were either floating in space or started falling down to the atmosphere of Qreten.

With only one ship operational, Collectors realized that they won't win this battle. Their last cruiser started to turn around in order to jump into FTL.

"They are trying to escape! Focus fire on their engines!" Seviros said to all ships of his fleet. "We won't let them flee!"

Soon the Collector ship looked like if its engines were completely melted due to the damage taken. After recieving a third wave of laser beams, they stopped working. Now the cruiser was completely helpless and carvin ships knew exactly what to do now. All of them positioned around the last enemy, either above, under, in front of, behind or next to it. They were just waiting for the final order.

"Fire." carvin High General gave the last order of this battle and the Collector vessel started to recieve big cracks on it's hull. The volley of laser bolts and beams was overwhelming for it and after a moment it shared the fate of it's two brothers.

Suddenly many reports came from the surface of Qreten about the Collector soldiers suddenly collapsing on the ground dead. It would appear that they needed to recieve a signal from a ship to remain functional. A big wave of relief has passed through the 6th fleet and all ground soldiers. Now it was time to study the exotic alien tech and start preparing the whole carvin military to fight this enemy if the incident would repeat. The Council would obviously be mad, but they didn't care as the safety of their race was more important.

 **Citadel, 16 hours later, No-one's POV**

A sudden attack on the carvin colony has frightened everyone on Citadel, especially when High General Seviros disappeared from the system with his fleet. Now that he was back, the Councilors wanted to talk to him about this incident. Unfortunately they didn't know that this conversation was going to be different than they've expected.

All Councilors were waiting in the Citadel Tower for the appearance of High General Seviros. While asari, turian and salarian representatives had very annoyed and irritated expressions on their faces, Anderson looked concerned and worried. Shepard told him about the Collectors abducting human colonies, but this seemed really odd for him, as if they had a deeper connection with the carvins. If they could easily put up a fight with three cruisers against a whole fleet of a highly advanced race, then it was scary.

But his thoughts were interrupted with Seviros finally appearing in the Tower along with some of his solder carrying Collector corpses.

"High General Seviros, we need to talk about recent events." Turian representative spoke first.

"You're right, we do." carvin leader replied coldly. "Our colony on the border of Traverse and Outer Council space was attacked and almost destroyed."

"And you have abandoned the Citadel with your whole fleet." Asari councilor said. "What would happen if it was attacked?"

"By what?" Seviros asked. "Reapers? You said that they are just a myth. Pirates? That wouldn't require even one of our ships to assist you. What thing strong enough would like to attack the Citadel in your opinion?"

All of the Councilors were silent. It was hard to admit, but he was right. They all tried their best to belive that the Reapers were just a myth.

"What happened with your colony, general?" Anderson was first to break the silence.

"Fortunately it survived and apart from rebuilding our defenses, and some of the smaller cities, everything is fine." Seviros said seemingly glad that there is at least one empathetic member of the Council present. "But I am more concerned about the invaders. Commander Shepard provided me with data about them. The Collectors."

"Interesting. You have captured some prisoners. Might be useful to study them." Salarian councilor spoke for the first time.

"They died when their ships were destroyed, but I won't mind if you'd like to run an autopsy on the corpses." High General replied and one of his soldiers threw one Collector body in front of the Council. "And just to let you know - we WILL be building up our fleet to defend our teritory."

"That is an open act of aggression!" turian representative was outraged. "We agreed on you keeping your dreadnoughts, but this is too much!"

"And how are you going to stop us, Councilor?" Seviros asked coldly as he knew that he had the upper hand. "Our cruisers can match in size AND firepower with most of your vessels. We might not build dreadnoughts, but if we'll build cruisers, then it won't change anything as they outmatch your flagships ships in almost every category. And they are cheaper so their construction will be faster. We don't say that you can't build your dreadnoughts, but if our empire is in danger, we are willing to do whatever it takes to defend it."

"With such aggressive politics you might cause your race to be excluded from Citadel races." asari councilor pointed out.

"Feel free to do that and say goodbye to all resources and technology promised for Andromeda Initiative." High General grinned as he knew that this was their weak point. Carvins agreed to share some of their advanced technology for the needs of Andromeda Initiative and it was an only opportunity for Council races to obtain it without aggression towards the carvins.

"Not benefitial." Salarian representative stated. For a moment there was silence again and then councilor Anderson started speaking.

"High General Seviros. What would you say if we would give your race a place in Citadel Council..." but he was interrupted by his turian counterpart.

"No! This is outrageous! Unacceptable! These beasts are not ready to have a seat in the Council!" he started shouting in anger.

"IF you'll devote OR create a fleet for the Citadel Defense fleet, which would then be it's inseparatable part, don't call off the technological exchange and open your borders for our ships?" Anderson finished and looked distinctly at the turian councilor not hiding his irritation.

Now it was Seviros who was thinking. The cost of this deal was substantial, but at least carvins could have something to say in the Council and make a difference that would benefit all the races.

"I will discuss your proposition with the other High Generals. I also need to know how big the fleet for defending the Citadel should be." he finally replied. "As for the-"

But he didn't finish as one of the Collector corpses started shining.

"You cannot comprehend what you have unleashed." it started to speak with Harbringer's voice terrifying everyone in the room. "We are your salvation through destruction. Prepare for our arrival."

Then it recieved three blaster bolts to the head from Seviros, though even he was shocked by such strange occurance.

The Councilors looked at eachother in fear and started to realize that maybe the Reapers weren't fully unreal. Anderson on the other hand saw a spark of hope that maybe the Citadel races are capable of working together and preparing for the arrival of the Reapers. If only he knew what connected them and the carvins...

 **A/N: So yeah, I put a LOT of mysteries in the chapters now. This one was pretty long though and I devoted this whole day to finish it for today. Anyway, I tried to show carvins in this chapter (especially in the end) as progressive, serious, expansive and in some way aggressive species if it comes to politics. They prefer doing instead of talking and that's why they don't get along with the Citadel very well. I also presented Anderson as an understanding guy who was in army and knows how the carvins might feel as a military race. Write what did you think in the reviews and feel free to PM me if you don't understand something. I'll try to explain everything. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	9. Hunt for the Shadow Lord - Chase

**A/N: Alright, so I know I haven't updated this story like 3 weeks, but Hey! The first rule of winter is - when life gives you snow, go skiing. I'm back though with the another part of the story and an announcement of another SPECIAL chapter. It will be a full description of carvin biology. I just feel bad with mentioning the special traits of carvins in different chapters while I had them on my mind from the beggining, but haven't mentioned them in the first chapter. It would feel that I 'upgrade' my species with every chapter and I stated it myself - they're not capable of evolving. Only mild, not permament changes. You can submit your ideas on what should I explain/describe/discuss about the carvins next though. It can be either culture, goverment, military or a very specific topic. Depends on you. Also I discovered that Andromeda Initiative was launched between ME2 and ME3, so I won't need to change the story that much.**

 **No reviews this time, but don't be afraid to submit them. It helps both me and you to make a better story and correct my mistakes. I don't bite anyway, but Carvins do (especially Brutes).**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Normandy, Shepard's POV**

I was silently lying on my bed, looking into endless void of space through the window. We were en route to a derelict reaper, to get its Identify Friend/Foe tag. Lil' Anderson put his head on my chest and his breathing could be heard quietly from time to time. But the most important thing he was doing, was being there with me all these hours, when melancholy was taking over my mind.

I missed her.

I missed the way she was nervously acting when she couldn't understand a certain human behaviour in such a cute way.

And yet she was now on Illium, obsessed with her hunt for Shadow Broker and avenging her friend. Even when we met after these two

years, she sent me to hack some terminals. One day a thought came to my head that she was cheating on me with that friend during my long sleep, but I tried my best not to think about it.

"Liara..." I let out a painful sigh. "Why can't we just come back to the time from before my death?"

Lil' Anderson made a sad sound and turned his head towards the old photo of Liara I still had. It would seem that he knew what I'm talking about. He was smarter than I thought and kept surprising all this time. He even learned to bring me my datapad in his mouth without damaging it.

I smiled on that sight and started to pet Anderson's back gently. He was a great support for me and equally great friend to all of the squadmates. They were often spending time just playing with him and making him do some tricks.

Suddenly my private terminal beeped loudly, informing me that I've recieved a new message. I opened it to reveal the content and started reading.

But after a while I froze.

From what it was said there, Cerberus spies have found some valuable information on the Shadow Broker, that would be crucial to finding him. They also wrote to pass this information to Liara as fast as possible.

My heart just did a backflip.

This was exactly what I wanted. With this data I could help Liara find the Shadow Broker and then maybe start again. A thought of her cheating on me with that 'Feron' came to my head, but I ignored it.

Lil' Anderson jumped off the bed and looked at me curiously as if he was saying 'What is it? What did you find?'. I winked at him and approached EDI's terminal.

"EDI, tell Joker to set course on Illium." I said with determination. "Like right now."

"Yes, Shepard." AI's visial model appeared on the terminal. "Is there any particular reason for that sudden change of plans?"

"I'll explain later, but let's say that I'm gonna visit an old friend again." I anwsered quickly. That mission could wait and going into a dead Reaper wasn't really encouraging.

The only thing that mattered was to meet with Liara and... try to put our relationship back together.

 **Meanwhile, Citadel, Anderson's POV**

I had a tough time of constantly hearing other councilors literally bitch at me for what I said. They were going to do that until Seviros will come back with response on my proposition. It was obvious that he's going to try negotiate a more beneficial deal for his race though.

"You know that this would cause an outrage through the minor races, councilor!" Turian representative shouted, not hiding his anger. "Carvins discovered the Citadel only a few MONTHS ago and you want them to join the Council already?"

"From what they told, they were eavesdropping everything that was going from 2000 of current era." I corrected him. "They knew what was going on during these 185 years. I would say that they were part of the galactic society in some way."

"Councilor Sparatus is right." Asari representative added. "The minor races like volus or hanar will not be pleased if we'll accept the carvins into the society."

"I am pretty sure that General Seviros won't stand by the offer I gave him and maybe suggest something more beneficial for both them and us." I tried to defend myself, but it turned out to be unnecessary as Seviros himself entered the room.

"And you are quite right, Councilor Anderson." he spoke with his cold voice, but now it had a bit of sympathy in it. "We have a more beneficial proposition."

"And what is it?" Salarian councilor spoke for the first time in a long time. "It is beneficial for the both sides?"

"I'd say we give you more than you give us." He replied and pressed a few buttons on his wrist computer. "We can keep the technological exchange as it was and even add a better shielding blueprints to that." a holo-blueprint appeared from his hand. "We also had one fleet that can be assigned to the Citadel fleet. It consists of 1 Dreadnought, 8 cruisers, 10 frigates and 10 corvettes. In OUR system of measuring."

"And what do you want in exchange?" I asked which resulted in glares from other councilors.

"A seat in the Council of course," Seviros said calmly and I could almost hear Sparatus' growl. "And some eezo supplies. Not for free of course."

"Why do you need element zero?" Salarian councilor Valern looked at him suspiciously. "Your ships don't rely on them in any way."

He was right. Carvin ships had a different FTL drive, making them completely independent from the Mass Relay network. That's why their colonies were so far from the relays. And their weapons were based on energy, not on physical projectiles accelerated to high speed.

"Biotics." Seviros anwsered simply and the hologram from his hand showed a Carvin soldier. "To obtain a biotic unit, we need to literally pump element zero into our soldiers. It is expensive and we don't have enough eezo deposits to make enough biotics for our army."

"Element Zero is expensive for us as well, General and our ships are completely dependent on it." Valern asked. "What could you offer us for it?"

Carvin General smirked and looked at one of his guards. I watched as he told him something in very strange language. Soldier nodded and deactivated his personal shield. Seviros raised his gun and I already knew what was going to happen.

Soldier recieved two energy bolts in his chest and only didn't show sny signs of pain. I saw only smoke traces on his armor, which wasn't heavily damaged itself. Other councilors gasped in shock, seeing that demonstration.

"Reantanium. The strongest material we possess." Seviros smirked and looked back at his guard. "It's a great combination of durability and lightness. From what the scanners indicate, it is four times stronger than your best quality armor. It doesn't appear on the planets connected to the mass relay network. As we discovered a few new deposits of that metal, we can share it with you... for the element zero of course."

The councilors frowned, but I would accept such offer, if the amount of this Reantanium would be good for the exchange. Finally the asari councilor spoke.

"I think the Asari Republics could accept your offer. Our people are naturally biotics and even Thessia has some element zero to spare." she said calmly, but I could see that the deal was attractive for her. From my own knowledge I knew that asari commandos are usually wearing a light armor, compensating with agility and biotic strength. This material could be used to make a light and strong armor for the asari military. "How much do you offer?"

"After a consultation with other High Generals, I'd say six tones of Reantanium for one tone of element zero." Carvin General anwsered and I opened my eyes widely. Other councilors did the same. "I told you we're giving you much."

That offer was indeed generous. The durability of the Carvin armor was shown when they appeared on the orbit of Citadel for the first time. They haven't lost a single ship, even a fighter, while dealing a substantial blow to the Citadel Defense Fleet.

"Salarian Union is willing to accept your offer. We do not use biotic units in battle after all." Councilor Valern replied after a moment.

I started to think about the proposition. It was obviously beneficial for the Alliance in case of military, but the production of new ships would slow down because of the smaller amount of eezo in our storages. Though on the other hand our ships could be stronger in battle, making defending our planets easier. And getting along with the Carvins would obviously result in a strong alliance between us, which would strengthen both our and their position in the galactic community.

"The Alliance says yes to your offer." I finally gave my anwser.

Only Sparatus didn't give his anwser. His face expression was defianetely showing agression and irritation towards Seviros.

"When can you start sending transports with Reantanium?" he asked after a moment.

"Depends on when you will accept the offer." Seviros anwsered.

"But we already gave the anwser." Asari councilor Tevos pointed out, but Carvin general shook his head.

"You only accepted the trade offer, not the whole offer including giving us a seat in the Council." he said and one of his guards approached him slowly. "Besides-"

But he stopped as his guard whispered something to him. Seviros' eyes widened for a moment and returned to their normal size after a second. He then whispered something back to the soldier, who nodded quickly.

"Alright, so I'm givin you this proposition to think about it." Seviros continued. "Let us know if you agree or have a 'better' idea. I need to go do something right now."

"Which is?" I asked and immediately regretted it, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

"Finding the one who sees all while staying invisible." Carvin general stopped for a moment and then left the room. The last thing I managed to hear was "Deploy the Shadow team."

 **Orbit of Illium, Normandy, Shepard's POV**

After some time we reached Illium and I started to feel uneasy about the meeting with Liara again. I decided to take Tali and Virox this time. Carvin soldier was going to see Illium for the first time, but I could tell from his behaviour that he knew something is not right about this planet. Tali on the other hand was quite happy to meet with Liara again. She along with Garrus were her closest friends.

"Alright Commander, we're approaching the Nos Astra." Joker informed me. "Just tell Virox about Illium's basic rules or we'll need to pay a lot of credits for him."

"Don't worry, I'll tell him, but I think he's smart enough to stay out of trouble." I laughed. "Though Tali might have more problems. Asari on Illium aren't very tolerant."

"Say 'Hi' to Liara from me, would you?" he asked after looking behind. "Too bad she can't come back."

I didn't say anything on the last sentence, but nodded my head and left the cockpit. Tali and Virox were waiting next to the airlock talking to eachother.

"You know, I really envy you and your species that good immune system." She said. "I mean we cannot even took our masks off in a private room."

"Yeah, almost all of this 'medicine' crap all around the Citadel doesn't affect us in any way. Bandages and medi-gel are the only exceptions I see." Virox anwsered. "Though our physiology is completely different from other species. We're not that tall, but compensate with size and cybernetic implants. And our immune systems are also functioning differently."

"I was about to ask. Is there any difference in feeling between the organic and mechanic hand? I mean you had to have an organic hand before." Tali asked and pointed on his metal hand. "Is it heavier, harder or what?"

"It's actually lighter, but I can turn off the recievers on its surface." He explained and made his hand spin 360 degrees around. "It gives more options to move it. It's also more durable... and this."

In that moment he activated these knuckle

blades. They were as sharp as when he showed them to me for the first time.

"Hehe, I see you're already getting along with Tali." I finally decided to join the conversation.

"Yeah, we weren't talking much since the Haestrom." Virox turned towards me quickly. "Though I know that Garrus was often having conversations with her."

Tali didn't say anything on that, but I could see that she felt uncomfortable. That's why I decided to end this talk and when the ship flinched I opened the airlock. It revealed a pathway to Nos Astra's more interesting parts than a docking bay.

"Welp, there we are." I said simply and both of my companions started to look around as we left the Normandy. "Follow me."

We walked forward and passed a few guard mechs to finally reach the open part of the building. It showed an incredible view on the Nos-Astra. Apart from that there were small shops along with the merchants standing next to them.

"This place stinks with fear. Mostly from non-asari species." Virox said quietly while looking on the uncertain volus who was just tricked by an asari merchant. "And the prices here are huuuge."

"Yeah, I don't think the Fleet would ever want to fly here." Tali commented his statement. It was hard not to agree.

We passed the shops and found the stairs leading to Liara's office. We slowly walked upstairs and I looked at the empty desk where Nyxeris, the Shadow Broker's informant, used to sit. I clicked on the door and it opened revealing... her.

"Shepard, you are on Illium again." Liara spoke a bit surprised. "What is the reason of this unexpected visit?"

"I just came to be around and decided to visit you." I smiled, trying to not talk about the obtained information yet. "Oh and I have some new and some old faces with me. Meet Virox. You know Tali already.

"Hey, Liara." quarian waved her hand.

"I don't have a face. At least not in the way you understand that. Our heads are basically the same for everyone." Virox spoke immediately after I finished the sentence. "And you must be that asari that constantly tries to establish contacts all around our Empire."

"You know that?" Liara seemed surprised. "I mean I trade information so I need contacts, but I didn't expect you to know about it."

"With all the attempts of technological data stealing made by salarians, our leaders are extremely cautious now and sent a message to every Carvin in the galaxy to not take any contracts from an unknown source." He explained. "Your activity was... disrupting at the beggining, but they dealt with it quickly. Now they don't pay that much attention on your activity."

"Well that's nice to hear." she smiled weakly. "But aren't you the one that was abducted?"

"Yeah, Shepard abducted me and Garrus destroyed one of my hearts. Fortunately it healed." Virox chuckled.

"Hey, remember that it was not my fault!" I tried to defend myself. "It was the Illusive Man and you know that."

"OK, ok don't get angry." he put his hands in a defensive gesture. "But you still haven't explained why the hell we are here."

I sighed as my attempts on delaying the hunt for the Shadow Broker were shattered. Though I couldn't keep this hidden forever and I wanted Liara to come back to normal after all.

"Alright, so the Cerberus got his hands on some critical intel about the Shadow Broker." I pulled out a datapad with the info and handed it to Liara. "They told me to pass it to you as Shadow Broker doesn't have a good history with them."

"Ooooh, so that's what we'll be doing." Virox smirked. "Heh, this is gonna be fun."

"Let me see this data." she quickly took the datapad and activated it, showing a recording of some sort. "It looks like a leaked transmission between Shadow Broker operatives. Some hints as to the location and-" but then another picture was shown on the datapad. A drell. "It's about Feron. He's still alive."

"Who's Feron?" I asked as calmly as I could, though my instincts were screaming 'HE IS THE REASON OF ALL THIS! PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE!'

"He was a friend." Liara said. "He helped me recover your body from the Shadow Broker."

"Why did the Shadow Broker want my corpse?" made wide eyes. That was just strange. I mean, I am not an organ doner or someone like that.

"He was going to sell you to the Collectors, but Feron and I stopped him." she stopped for a moment. "Feron sacrificed himself to save me."

"So you rescued me." I was more than surprised. "Then how did I end up with Cerberus?"

"Well they gave me intel to help recover you. They actually put Feron with me in the first place." she explained and looked deeply in my eyes. I could see pain in them. "After I got out, I gave you to them. They said they could bring you back."

"And that's what you call a REAL fangirl!" Virox started clapping his metal hands, though it wasn't as painful for the ear as I'd expect. "I'd bet all of my credits that NONE of your fans would try to do that AND succeed! Not surprising that you two got along in the first place."

Liara and I were just standing there speechless, while Tali was standing next to the door, probably trying to stiffle a giggle, but with a little success. Of course she knew about our love. Meanwhile Virox was just standing there, still clapping his hands.

"Oh... so you knew about it?" Liara seemed as embarrassed as I was.

"From the moment I walked into this room." carvin soldier made an expression that was probably a smirk. I learned some of them through all these missions we were on together. "I could immediately smell both of your pheromones positively reacting to eachother. At least it doesn't stink like when krogan do that." Tali was curling on the floor and seemingly couldn't stifle her laughter right now. He just looked at her and shrugged. "What are we gonna do now?"

'Finally!' I screamed at Virox in my mind. 'Finally you are done!'

"I...I don't know. I-I need to prepare, to think." Liara sounded pretty nervous now. I couldn't say if it was because of Virox's jokes or something else. "I'm going home. Use my terminal if you need any local intel."

"You okay?" I gave her a concerned look.

"I've spent two years plotting revenge." she sighed and turned towards me as she was standing in the doorway. "Now I have a chance to make it a rescue."

"Let me help." I stopped her for one more moment. "I'll come by to your apartment?"

"Okay, hopefully I'll have a plan ready by then." Liara gave me one last smile. "Thank you, Shepard."

And she left.

I stood there for a while and then gave Virox a little punch.

"Hey! What the hell was that for?" he shouted in surprise.

"You already know it." I replied him and all of us headed to Liara's apartment.

 **Meanwhile, Shadow team's landing zone, No-one's POV**

Shadow team was an elite squad, formed by the Carvin Empire right after the first contact with the Citadel. These were almost the best operatives of all carvin forces. It wasn't named 'Shadow team' without a reason. They were often deployed in critical points all over the Carvin Empire to engage Shadow Broker's forces attempting to steal valuable data or sent to eliminate some of his operatives. Now their target was to find Shadow Broker himself.

Shadow team consisted of three squads, each having a different role: Phantom squad - specializing in open combat on mid/close-range, Smoke squad - specializing in manipulating the battlefield using biotics or tech skills, and Assassin squad - specializing in executions and long-ranged combat.

There was also The Wraith. He was a biotic Brute, who was the first living result of the 'Executor' project. The program was launched right after the first contact with the Citadel. The Wraith had an experimental armor that provided him with more durability, strength, agility, situational awareness and ability to scan the area. He is twice as strong as an elite carvin soldier and about three times more durable than a normal Brute. The element zero has connected with his cells really well, without any complications and being a Brute made him use more powerful biotics and use them more often. Most of his organs were also upgraded using cybernetics and even though such improvements are banned in Carvin Empire, the society decided for it to be acceptable for military purpose. The Wraith lost his normal voice due to the upgrades and instead uses a text/voice message system connected to his brain. He can literally think of what he wants to say and the message is sent to all carvins connected to the same comm channel without being heard by anyone else.

"Alright boys, you all know what we're up against." Phantom Leader spoke. He was the very leader of the team and the 'shotcaller' of Phantom squad that was part of Shadow team. "Our intel says that the clues of Broker's location are in the apartment of an asari information dealer: Liara T'Soni. Phantoms will infiltrate the house with me, Smokes will stay outside as backup and the Assassins will be our eyes. Clear!?"

"Clear!" a chorus of salutes replied him.

"Remember, no civilian casualties. We stay hidden for as long as possible. Keep cloak active all time, unless I order otherwise." he continued and then looked at each soldier separately. "This mission is bigger than anything we've been doing until now, so don't fuck this up. Now move out!"

Carvin shuttle decloaked itself above a big skyscraper and opened its right door. All of the carvin soldiers quickly jumped out and landed safely on the roof using their wings. Then the shuttle cloaked again and flew away.

"Synchronizing cloak signatures." Phantom Leader spoke and his HUD was now showing the cloaked soldiers around him. Then the whole group moved at the edge of the building. "We're gonna glide to the other side. Jets only if absolutely necessary. Assassins stay here and provide cover."

All commandos obeyed and after a moment Phantom and Smoke squad were gliding in the air. The Wraith didn't say anything and used his biotics to slowly levitate on the other side. Fortunately there weren't many skycars nearby so every soldier safely reached the other building. Now it was time to move in.

Meanwhile the Assassin squad stayed on the skyscraper and positioned itself on the edge of the building. From that location they had a perfect view on what was going on in Liara's apartment. But their eyes saw something they didn't expect. Something that was going to make their mission even harder.

"Assassin Leader to Phantom leader, do you copy?" squad shotcaller activated his comm.

"Loud and clear, Assassin Leader. What is it?" Phantom Leader asked.

"There are cops in the apartment and one asari we do not recognize. Need to scan her from closer distance." Assassin Leader replied.

"Copy that." Phantom leader nodded and switched the comm. "Smokes and The Wraith, go on the balcony and stay quiet. You'll engage if needed."

" _Acknowledged._ " a text message from The Wraith appeared on everyone's HUDs. He and the Smokes jumped on the wall and silently started to move towards the balcony, where they could have a better view. At the same time the Phantom squad just passed the police cars parked in front of the apartment. There was two of them so nothing they couldn't handle. It was the unknown asari that was worrying them.

"Alright, we're in. Scan that lady, Wraith." Phantom Leader said as they successfully passed the police line unnoticed.

" _Scanning..._ " The Wraith stated and after a moment spoke again. " _Tela Vasir. Special Tactics and Recon. Known for her extreme methods in achieving targets._ "

"A Spectre. Great." Phantom 4 mumbled, but was quickly shushed by his teammates.

"Spread up!" Phantom Leader whispered. "Me, 2 and 5 will go upstairs. 3, 4, 6 and 7 will stay here."

" _Wait!_ " Wraith interrupted them, but this time using a voice message. " _Fingerprints that are scanned by the police and the skin samples on the walls match Vasir's DNA. She might have set this situation up._ "

"For now we just try to get the data." Phantom Leader cut the chatter and everyone started to look for any data disks or datapads nearby.

Fortunately the police officers were too busy taking photos and sharing their findings to hear the carvin commandos, making them free to explore the place. Tela Vasir wasn't that much of an obstacle either. She turned around once after Phantom 5 touched the wall too loudly, but then returned to her job.

"Assassin 3 to Phantom Leader," one of the Assassins activated his comm. "I've got a visual on a skycar parking in front of the apartment. A taxi. Three people inside."

"Specify." Phantom Leader ordered.

"A male human, a female quarian and one male carvin." Assassin 3 replied while tracking the small group with his sniper rifle scope. "They are moving inside. We advise additonal caution."

"Copy that." Phantom Leader ended the transmission.

Three visitors slowly walked through the doorway and were stopped by a police officer. They probably didn't like the halt though.

"What's going on?" the human asked reffering to the asari officer. The moment he said that, Tela Vasir looked at him from upstairs. Wraith noticed the change and started recording just in case.

"This area is sealed off. Please step back, sir." purple-skinned asari cop anwsered while putting her hand up in a 'stop, you won't pass' gesture.

"Sealed off? Why?" human wasn't giving up and the Phantom squad looked at him closely. Even when he was wearing helmet, he reminded them of someone. Someone VERY popular in the Carvin Empire. First in bad, but then in good way.

"Someone tried to kill your friend, Commander Shepard." Tela Vasir slowly walked down the stairs, while her hand was resting on the rail. She then looked at the window, but didn't show any signs of noticing cloaked carvin commandos. "Thank you, officer. Your people are dismissed."

Alien trio passed the police line, but the asari police officer tried to stop them. She was obviously not happy from the outcome of this situation.

"You can't do that!" she protested, but was interrupted by the spectre.

"Already done." Vasir simply replied as other cops were slowly leaving the room. The officer just waved her hand and left.

"Commander Shepard here?" Phantom 2 asked with surprise. "And who are the others?"

" _Stand by..._ " Wraith told him and after a moment spoke again. " _The quarian is named Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Raya. Known for her activity in saving the Citadel from the Geth attack. Formidable engineering skills for such a young individual. Expert in geth software. Scanning the carvin..._ " he stopped. " _Specialist Virox Ri'Kaan, served alongside High General Seviros during Great Grox War. Right now stationed as a 'carvin representative on multispecies spaceship'. One of Seviros' most skilled soldiers. Also known for his weird sense of humor._ "

"He might be a problem." Phantom Leader said. "He can smell us and if we'll get caught, things can get complicated. Keep your distance from him."

Meanwhile the first human Spectre approached his asari counterpart. His face expression was serious.

"Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Recon." asari introduced herself to the Commander.

"A Spectre?" Shepard was surprised.

"I heard your status was reinstated. Good." she anwsered and smiled. "You're one of our most famous operatives. Might even get you to sign my chestplate."

"Oh Shepard, look! Another fangirl!" Virox chuckled and quarian started laughing. Shepard just facepalmed, while carvin soldier continued. "I need to warn you though. He signed many chestplates, chests and even heads of his awesome fans. With his omni-blade."

Carvin commandos couldn't help but chuckle on that, but that caught Virox's attention. He started to study the room for the activity, though seemed to not notice them. But Phantom Leader could see suspiciousness in his eyes and shushed everyone.

"Ha ha. Funny, you know?" Vasir smirked on that, although her face turned serious again. "So I assume that you had business with your friend this evening, Commander?"

All of the commandos froze on that. There was no logical anwser on how did she knew this except that she was involved in Liara's disappearance. That would be supported by her skin samples all around the room as well. Virox also seemed to be more cautious and was now looking deeply in her eyes.

"Liara was following a lead on the Shadow Broker." Shepard anwsered.

"The Shadow Broker?" asari Spectre asked. "Dangerous enemy to have."

Commandos kept listening to the conversation and thought that maybe Commander is their ally in this situation, especially that data gathered from T'Soni's terminal showed a lot of attempts on tracking down Broker's agents. But suddenly all of them recieved a text message. From Virox.

"I know that you are here." he wrote. "Don't worry, I won't give you away."

"What are you doing here?" Phantom Leader wrote back. "Shouldn't be around the Terminus systems and hunting for the Collectors?"

"We're doing you a favor here. Liara T'Soni has the intel on the location of the Shadow Broker." Virox texted again. "We just need to obtain it. Though I don't trust that asari Spectre."

"We'll watch her. There is an Executor with us. First successful soldier of that type." Phantom Leader gave him a reply. "If shit will go down, we will engage. Now just get that data."

Virox turned towards the window and nodded his head. But that window was actually a hiding spot for The Wraith, who did the same. Now the whole Shadow team had to wait for the next steps of Shepard and his friends.

 **Virox's POV**

Heh, it was nice to have some support with us. Maybe CIG (Carvin Intelligence Group) obtained the information that we have info on Shadow Broker's location. It didn't matter much though as Liara was not here and we needed to find her. And I had a feeling that someone also wanted to do that. Someone that wouldn't be very friendly towards us.

"You knew T'Soni better than I do, Commander." Tela Vasir spoke to Shepard. "Where would she have hidden her backups?"

"Let me take a look around." Shepard anwsered and turned towards me and Tali. "You can also try to find something. Tell me if you do."

"Okay, let's see..." I left the group and started to seemingly examinate the prothean artifact downstairs. But in reality I placed a small droid on it and programmed it to follow Vasir. I didn't like her behaviour. She seemed too confident in what she was doing. This droid was going to attach to her and act like a mobile bug for eavesdropping.

"Keep your eye on Shepard. He'll probably find the info faster." I texted the commandos and then went upstairs. Shepard was holding a photo that was probably showing the previous Normandy. Garrus told me that it was a brilliant ship.

But the picture changed a few seconds after Commander touched it.

"The picture changed when you touched it. It must be keyed to your I.D." Vasir repeated my thoughts out loud. "What does it show now?"

I was curious about it too. It looked like a some kind of mine or dig site. From what I knew, Liara was an archeologist so such things could be normal, but not in this scenario.

"It's a prothean dig site." Shepard confirmed my speculations. "Liara did leave a message."

I looked around to see a few objects that were probably related to the protheans. Listening to their conversation wasn't necessary for me to conclude that they were the key to the information. The data must've been somewhere near them.

"Scan these objects and the area around them. The data disk must be somewhere there." I texted the commandos. "But do not engage in any way."

" _Acknowledged._ " the so-called Wraith anwsered me by a text message too. " _I have detected a stronger electric signatures around the big artifact downstairs. Right on the left from the stairs. It is the possible location of the disk._ "

"Nice job." I whispered silently so that no one in the room could hear me.

Meanwhile Shepard was inspecting the other objects with caution. After a few inspections he approached the correct one. The moment he touched the glass, it pulsed and a small hatch below the artifact opened. It revealed a small disk that was shining with red light. That must've been what we were looking for.

"Vasir, I've got something here!" Shepard shouted to the asari Spectre. She quickly approached the Commander and studied the device.

"A backup disk." she finally said. "Let's try it on her terminal."

We walked towards Liara's desk where a few screens were located. Shepard inserted the backup disk and the screens showed a salarian wearing green clothes. Probably a contact of Shepard's girlfriend.

"It looks like she recorded a call." Vasir stated.

"No shit! And I thought it's a romantic holovid!" I couldn't hold that one as this statement was more than unnecessary for that situation. "Of course she did!"

"Is your friend always like that?" she asked the Commander who shrugged.

"You get used to it." he said making me make smirk. "And he has formidable combat experience."

"Aww, how flattering." I grinned and pointed at the screens. "But let's focus on that call."

The video clip was turned on and the salarian started moving.

"What have you got for me, Sekat?" Liara's voice echoed in the room.

"It was tricky, but you paid for the best." salarian replied. "I can narrow it into a cluster. Maybe even a system."

"How soon can you have it?" Liara asked.

"Shouldn't take long." he anwsered. "Come to my office. Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center."I immediately noticed a change of expression on Vasir's face. It was almost completely obvious that she didn't want it to happen. That she might work for the Shadow Broker from the very beggining. And no one knew about it. Though Sekat continued. "Gotta say though, T'Soni - you're making me a little nervous. How big is the trouble that can come out of this?"

"Relax, Sekat. I'll see you in a few hours!" Liara ended the call quickly, though I could hear in her voice that she was nervous as well.

"This must be important!" Shepard said with determination and care. "The Shadow Broker's people already tried to kill her once!"

"I know where the Dracon Trade Center is. My car is outside." Vasir nodded her head and a thought came to my head - to shoot her at the back of the head when we'll be flying. But I quickly realized that it was a bad idea. Only I could safely get on the ground from such height. Shep and Tali didn't have wings.

"Stay calm. We'll be following you in our shuttle. Maybe even find a proof that this Spectre is a traitor." Phantom Leader whispered to me through his comm.

"Copy that." I whispered back and we went to the Vasir's car.

The asari Spectre didn't notice one thing though - my little

 **With the Shadow Team, No-one's POV**

The moment Shepard's team left the aparment, Phantoms and Smokes regrouped together along with The Wraith in front of the building. There was going to be a big change of plans.

"Phantom Leader to Assassin Leader, do you copy?" Phantom Leader asked.

"Loud and clear. What is it?" Assassin Leader anwsered.

"There is a change of plans. We need to quickly get to the Dracon Trade Center. The data we need is there." Phantom Leader ordered. "Don't summon the shuttle. This time we need to get there on foot."

"How do you wanna do that, sir?" Phantom 4 asked with surprise. Phantom Leader looked at the Wraith who immediately understood the plan.

"I can make a series of short-ranged teleports using my biotics. It would be enough to get you to the landing zone." he used his mechanic voice this time. "From there we can fly from one building to another using our jets."

The plan was a bit crazy, but there was Shadow Broker's location at stake and now they couldn't turn back. Every soldier knew that and all of them saluted in perfect unison. Phantoms and Smokes caughts eachother's hands, creating a circle. The Wraith took his place in it as well. After a moment everyone could feel the biotic energy pulsing through their bodies. Then everyone blinked into the air and the gravity started to affect them again. But The Wraith blinked again, again and again, cheating the gravity every time it was trying to pull the commandos on the ground. It took about 30 blinks to get close enough to the skyscraper for grappling hooks to reach it.

"Launch grappling hooks now!" Phantom Leader ordered and the circle of soldiers ceased to exist as everyone activated their hooks. Fortunately all of them hit their target and after a moment, carvin commandos were pulling themselves up to the roof. It took them about a minute to gather there and rejoin the Assassin team. Snipers were ready to go as well and were only waiting for order to engage. Phantom Leader stood in front of his soldiers and then pointed at the another skyscraper in front of him. "We fly there first!"

On that order, every commando jumped off their landing zone and used their wings to stabilize themselves. After that it was time for activating jets. They were positioned on their legs, on both left and right side of the mechanic ankle. Fuel was kept inside the cybernetic implants, covered by Reantanium to ensure its safety. Carvins didn't need to use the jets all the time. Only one strong boost could give them the speed they needed to get on the other side using their wings.

Shadow Team was repeating this activity, jumping from one skyscraper to another, to finally reach Dracon Trade Center. They were going straight at their target so they arrived only a moment later than Shepard with his team. They needed to maneuver their skycar between the buildings so it took them longer. They just left their vehicle as the Shadow Team positioned themselves right behind it and a few others.

" _Salarian named Sekat is still in the building._ " Wraith said after scanning the area with his advanced, built-in visor. " _Wait! I detect multiple anomalies in the building It's explosives!_ "

The moment he said that, third floor of the Trade Center was obliterated. A few seconds after, two more floors were blown up.

"Shadow Broker." Phantom Leader grumbled in anger. "We can't just engage his agents. There are civilians there." but then, when Vasir took her skycar on the top of the building and Shepard went inside, an idea popped out in his head. He pointed at the building's rooftop. "Grapple hooks! Now! We're gonna help Shepard in that one, by reducing resistance."

Everyone, except The Wraith obeyed and after a moment they were connected to the wall. The Wraith wasn't going with them as he was more of an expert in up close or mele combat. A few shots and he'd be enraged, giving up the presence of carvin commandos. Instead he stayed on the bottom and served as the Shadow Team's eyes due to his superior visor.

" _Go to the second floor. A large group of Broker's agents, including salarian engineers, is running through the exposed area._ " he reported shortly after scanning the area. " _Use the advantage of surprise._ "

"Acknowledged." all three leaders of three squads replied immediately and soon second floor became a slaughterhouse. Laser bolts were flying everywhere, piercing either chests or heads of enemies multiple times. Operatives were completely shocked and almost everyone of them died before firing a single shot. No one got out alive.

" _Next potential objective - third floor. There is a high concentration of biotic units there. Unfortunately there is no direct access to Sekat's office._ " The Wraith informed. " _I suggest keeping the distance from biotic units._ "

But the close distance turned out to be an advantage rather than a difficulty. With their guns set on fully-automatic mode, carvin commandos shredded through enemy soldiers and biotics. The second ones were protected by barriers for a moment, but that changed when the Assassin squad eliminated them quickly using sniper rifles. These Broker operatives shared the fate of their friends from second floor.

" _Alert! Cloak or leave the line of sight immediately!_ " Wraith suddenly said through the comms. " _Tela Vasir is heading towards this room, with one Broker's operative as guard._ "

Carvins quickly obeyed and turned on their cloaks. Vasir indeed entered the room with her guard. She was more than shocked by the sight of bodies lying all around the room and blood spilled on the walls. Her expression only lasted for a moment though as she calmly walked among the corpses. It was clear that she was heading for Liara's salarian contact: Sekat.

" _Be advised. Shepard and his team are heading your way, but they won't get there on time to save Sekat._ " Wraith informed. " _Recommended to change positions._ "

"Damn it. We'll position ourselves above Sekat's office." Phantom Leader grumbled. "Fourth floor, now!"

Soldiers obeyed and lifted themselves with their grapple hooks. The Wraith stayed on the ground for obvious reasons. After a successful procedure, they detached them and moved to their meeting point - above Sekat's office. Fortunately explosions created a hole in the ceiling so they could see everything in the room with no problem. Sekat was hiding under his desk. Scanners indicated that his heart was beating two times faster than it should be, but he still had the data disk with him.

Vasir's guard entered the room alone. His armor was in standard white color forces and he was armed with Scimitar shotgun. He slowly scanned the area, looking for the salarian. Unfortunately he heard his whimpers under the desk and pulled out Liara's contact. Sekat hit the wall hard, but tried to regain balance.

"No! No, please!" he begged for the last time before being shredded by shotgun's bullets. But in the same time, the second door to the room started its opening sequence. Behind it there was Shepard and his teammates on either left or right corner - standard breaching strategy.

Merc noticed that and pointed his gun at the door. Vasir walked behind him slowly. She pointed her gun at his head and...

BANG!

Carvin soldiers cringed on that sight. Betrayal was one of the worst crimes in the Carvin Empire, especially in military. Traitors were immediately punished by death by spacing. If the crime was on a big scale, traitor was electroduced to death, which in carvin's case took VEEEERY long.

Meanwhile the door finally opened, revealing Shepard with the pistol in hand. Carvins just hoped that they'll figure out what really happened.

 **Shepard's POV**

We opened the door to reveal Broker's lifeless soldier falling on the ground. Tela Vasir was standing behind him with her pistol in hand. She looked disappointed, but I could see little signs of satisfaction on her face.

"Damn it! If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could've stopped them." she sighed and I saw Virox on my right rolling his eyes.

"Well then you are a pretty shitty Spectre." he said. "From what I saw on my visor, there was not much enemies on the top. Most of them headed towards us and... well, died a horrible and painful death."

I ignored that comment, but it was quite accurate. Vasir should have enough time to get here and save Sekat. Poor salarian was now leaning on the wall in a pool of his own blood. Something was not right here.

"Is this Sekat?" I asked.

"Must've been." Vasir didn't even turn around. I inspected him with my omni-tool, but couldn't see a signature of that data disk.

"No sign of that data disk Liara talked about." I said with disappointment. "Looks like a dead end."

"Mmm, speaking of which - did you find your friend's body?" she asked making me freeze instantly. But I heard footsteps behind me and turned around.

"You mean THIS body?" Liara was standing there with her pistol aimed at Vasir. At first I didn't know what she meant so my paragon instinct kicked in.

"Liara!" I stopped her. "This is Vasir. She's a Spectre."

"This is the woman who tried to kill me!" Liara anwsered in a hateful tone.

"Ah you had a rough day so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put that gun down?" my asari counterpart chuckled, but the mysteries in my head started to match eachother slowly.

"Oh really?" this time Virox joined again which I completely haven't expected. "Because I think Liara is right. And I have a proof!"

"Shepard, your friend has some problems now. Probably traumatized after you abducted him." Vasir commented.

"Then how about this?" my carvin teammate clicked something on his wrist computer and suddenly a small robot jumped off Vasir's armor. It then levitated towards him and he activated it to asari's great shock. "Let's listen what you were saying."

The robot played a recording.

"Get down quickly! Shepard cannot reach Sekat. Shoot him on sight and find me the salarian. When you find him, don't hesitate to kill him, but I want that disk he has." voice of Vasir said. "Shepard doesn't know what he got himself into."

There was probably more of that, but Virox decided that it was enough. And for me it was. Every piece of this big puzzle had its right place in my head, except one - why did Vasir do this?

"Aww, don't feel bad. When the Council finds out about this, you won't be worrying about your Spectre responsibilities." he grinned.

"That's what troubled me back in the apartment!" I added. "You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message! You needed me to find her for you!"

"Thanks for the help." Vasir smirked back to us.

"Once she had my location, she signaled Shadow Broker's forces. They bombed the building to take me out!" Liara continued explaining, though I already figured it out myself. "She found Sekat, took his data, and killed him. I'm guessing she's still got the disk on her."

"Good guess." asari Spectre showed the red data disk in her hand. "Not that you'll ever see what's on it..." then she used biotics to smash the window behind her to pieces. "...You pureblood bitch!"

Glass shards immediately flew towards us, but Liara put up a was unlucky. He stepped forward when he was showing his evidence so the barrier couldn't reach him. About 5 big glass shards hit him directly in the chest, but only three managed to pierce his armor. He screamed in pain for a second and then rushed towards Vasir with increased speed.

"DIE, SLUT!" he yelled and pushed her out the window along with himself. We rushed for help, but he already tackled her to the ground and started punching with his metal fists. After he destroyed her barrier he landed a good hit on her face. Vasir moaned in pain, though that didn't stop her from pushing Virox off her using biotics. Carvin soldier hit the wall. "Argh, screw you!"

I jumped for help along with Liara, but unfortunately Vasir's sudden singularity caught both me and my her. I tried to break free and Liara just blinked out of range, using her biotics too. After that she ran after Vasir with her skin glowing blue. Tali managed to get down without any big harm as I was still in the air. When I liberated myself, I hit the ground hard, but Virox was already up to help me.

"Thanks." I said, but he just shook his head.

"I'm gonna kill her!" he growled and I could see that he was becoming enraged. "Her death is going to be painful and her blood will spatter all over Illium."

"Hold your desires, because Broker's forces are coming." Tali pointed at the door in front of us. It opened revealing several mercs in white armours - our target. "Or... just kill them if you can't kill her."

"With pleasure." Virox grinned and activated his knuckle blades, while I pulled out my Vindicator rifle.

"You and me both." I nodded my head. "Let's kick some asses."

And there it began. Tali deployed her combat drone, making it a distraction for the Broker's forces. With that, Virox immediately rushed forward, engagin the mercs in a melee combat they couldn't win. As the two of my teammates were causing chaos on the battlefield, I used it as a benefit to quickly take out scared and confused enemies.

BANG BANG BANG!

One burst just obliterated a rocket launcher merc.

BANG BANG BANG!

Another one blew up someone's head.

"GAAAAAAH!" I saw Virox pulling out a merc's heart out of his chest. Poor guy only managed to scream before dying. The kill made a lot of mess, but I couldn't deny its visual aspects, which were... pretty damn impressive. Tali also decided to join the fun and the shotgun started to do its job. Two Broker's soldiers were shredded by powerful geth plasma shotgun. I managed to get one for her using my reinstated Spectre status and it's doing a good job.

When we took care of the mercs in the first room, I signaled to move forward. Though I couldn't stop feeling like if someone was watching my every movement. I just didn't know if the mysterious observer was friendly or hostile, but left that thought for later.

Next room was familiar. It was the first room I saw after entering the Dracon Trade Center. Now it was full of Broker's mercs. The fight wasn't really different though. The only thing worth mentioning was that Virox was using a grapple hook to pull the enemies closer. He launched it at an asari biotic without her barrier. The spike on it pierced the armor along with skin. Then Virox activated the 'pull' option that sent the asair right at his knuckle blades.

"Damn, I need one of those." I commented, admiring the effectivness of that device and fired a Concussive Shot that sent one flying at the wall. He didn't survive the impact.

After a while the hostiles were dead or incapable of fighting. I ran towards the exit that aparently was still working after Vasir and Liara passed here. I was surprised that Vasir didn't try to damage the door for delaying Liara.

We left the building to see Liara and Vasir shooting eachother from behind the cars. The second asari seemed to notice we came and hid behind cover. I could see a light from her omni-tool and then remembered - she still had a car.

And like if I summoned it, a yellow car flew next to us and started to levitate below the platform we were on. Vasir quickly jumped to it, leaving us behind.

"Damn it!" Liara was obviously displeased by the fact of her escaping. She quickly got her hands on a taxi skycar and went in. I approached the vehicle and took my seat as a driver.

"I'm fine by the way. Thanks for asking." I said sarcastically. Now I needed to decide who to take with me. I wasn't used to command more than 2 squadmates and we needed speed now so only one could go. It was a hard choice, but I nodded my head on Virox who quickly went into the skycar.

"I won't let ya down, Commander." he told me and prepared his gun, though I didn't know why.

"Come on! She's getting away!" Liara was getting impatient as I pulled the vehicle up. This was going to be a great race.

 **Meanwhile with the Shadow Team, No-one's POV**

Vasir and Shepard's squad just flew away with the data and the Shadow Team were still in the building without a transprt. The situation didn't look good and Phantom Leader started to fear for the success of this mission. He had to think of something.

"Wraith, we need a transport now!" he shouted through the comms. "We're done with stealth and sneaky tactics for now."

" _Already done, sir._ " Wraith replied with a voice message. " _I have prepared our transport in case of, as you would say - shit going down. One civilian truck. Smaller than most of those around here, though I made some upgrades for it as you were spying there. Just in case._ "

That message caused many sighs of relief and a few cheers in the Shadow Team. That way they could

"Awesome!" Phantom Leader couldn't belive in that good news. Then he turned towards the rest of Shadow Team. "Everyone, we're gonna chase them. Get down to that vehicle that Wraith prepared, NOW!"

Soldiers immediately jumped through the window and used their wings to safely land on the platform. The Wraith was waiting for them with the so-called 'transport'. The truck didn't look very impressive, but The Wraith used to be a great field engineer before joining the Executor program, so they could trust him with this.

" _The transport is ready, Phantom Leader._ " he said calmly.

"Great, now everyone inside!" Phantom Leader ordered and his order was executed immediately. He took the place of the driver, though the seats weren't suited for carvins so it was a bit uncomfortable. Then he spoke to The Wraith again. "Give me 20 on Virox!"

" _Acknowledged. Standby._ " Wraith, who was sitting next to him, gave him a short reply. " _Sending the location to your HUD._ "

And right after that, a map appeared on Phantom Leader's HUD. He activated a visor on a second eye, as most of the time he had a visor only for right eye. Now his vision was cleared.

"Alright, now let's see how string punch this has." he grinned and made the vehicle accelerate to a great speed that could beat other skycars easily. That speed gave the Phantom Leader a pure pleasure from driving. "What the hell did you do to that vehicle? It is awesome!"

" _I have removed the eezo cores from some of the nearby skycars and connected them to the truck. They are now in the cargo space along with the rest of the Shadow Team._ " Wraith anwsered emotionelessly. " _I have also upgraded some of the algorythms of the vehicle. They were really inefficient before._ "

"You did WHAT?" Phantom Leader was so shocked, he almost hit another skycar. He didn't expect The Wraith to be capable of doing something like that in such a short period of time, or generally be able to accomplish such thing. Where did he get the wiring and additional parts anyway?

"That explains this giant box here!" one of the Smokes shouted from the cargo space. "It's tight as hell here because of that thing!"

"Stop complaining!" this time it was a member of Assassin squad. "At least we have a ride."

Phantom Leader just ignored that and focused on the driving. That truck had a speed formidable enough for them to quickly catch up with Shepard and Vasir. He switched his comm and camera frequency to see and hear what Virox was doing. They were chasing Vasir to a big tunnel and he could see a few transports with Shadow Broker's troops. Virox was holding his CAR-26 fully active. There was only one logical reason why he was doing it and Phantom Leader had a hope to see it.

"They've got reinforcements!" the asari (Liara T'Soni her name was as he remembered) shouted as a few rocket hit the entrance of the tunnel.

"What kind of guns does this thing have?" Shepard asked while maneuvering between the rockets.

"It's a taxi! It has a fare meter!" Liara replied sarcastically.

"Well now I'm gonna change that!" Virox said and moved to the door, making Phantom Leader smile. "Open the door!"

"What?" Shepard asked confused.

"Just do it!" carvin soldier shouted and his request was anwsered. He jumped out of the vehicle and took his place on the top of the vehicle for a great happiness of Phantom Leader. He stabilized himself with his grappling hook and aimed his rifle at Vasir's skycar. "Die, bitch!"

Even from the truck, Phantom Leader could see laser bolts and couldn't stop smirking on the sight. He accelerated the vehicle to its maximum speed shortening the distance between them and the two skycars chasing one another. But he heard something that wasn't very optimistic.

"Truck!" Liara screamed in fear.

"I know." Shepard anwsered calmly.

"TRUCK!" she seemed to be terrified this time which made Phantom Leader chuckle.

"I know!" Commander tried a more persuasive tone.

"Oh crap." Virox said.

And there it was. A giant truck, though a lot bigger than theirs, was heading right at them. Someone must've damaged it, but Phantom Leader didn't care as he made a desperate turn to evade a big wave of debris. Doing so he did a barrel roll above the truck, making everything in the vehicle shake.

"WHOOOOA!" he shouted in fear, but it was not necessary because they din't hit anything.

" _Your driving isn't described as very commendable in your profile, Phantom Leader._ " The Wraith was probably joking now. " _Something wrong?_ "

"Maybe I just drive better while under pressure." he anwsered quickly and focused on driving. Yet he was pretty close to Shepard, but still he kept his distance to not draw that much attention. They left the giant tunnel and were now flying against the tide. Forutnately Vasir and the Broker's troops were easily scarring people away and making some space.

But then another truck appeared and he saw that even without Liara screaming the same thing through Virox's comm all over again. This time though he had a lot more space to maneuver, especially that their target wasn't driving forward and turned right along with Shepard on her tail. Phantom Leader easily evaded the truck this time and saw the blue taxi and yellow skycar right next to eachother. After a moment they started to bash one another repeatedly.

"I'm gonna kill you so badly, there won't be any blood to clean!" Virox shouted from the top of the blue taxi. He started firing at Vasir's engines while she tried to knock him off the vehicle.

After a few attack on eachother, Shepard managed to push Vasir very hard to the right. She lost control and suddenly hit another skycar. Phantom Leader expected an explosion, but it didn't happen, at least not for the asari Spectre. Her vehicle was probably armored for safety reasons. But that wasn't protecting her completely. Her engine was in flames and eventually she crashed on the balcony of a very tall building.

Shepard landed properly on the parking space, like a cultured, civilized member of the galactic community. Unfortunately Shadow Team wasn't going to do the same. They needed to stay away from the crowd. That's why they landed on the roof again. Fortunately there was no one on it and nothing was showing that they have been noticed.

"Alright, get out and cloak! NOW!" Phantom Leader ordered while leaving the vehicle as well. Other soldiers looked a bit disoriented, but like every elite force, they were quickly returning to normal. Everyone was as ready for action as possible. "Okay, the sneaky stealthy strategy is back, but I guess not for long. We'll need to confront the Commander Shepard after he'll retrive the data or assist him if he runs into trouble."

A few groans and grumbles were heard, but he couldn't blame them. They were restricted by the politics and the fact that Illium was an asari world. If this was a normal battlefield, they would've shot Vasir on sight immediately and take the data. Now there was an opportunity to assist the first human Spectre in achieving his mission and maybe gain his trust. That would strengthen the position of carvins in the galaxy too. Phantom Leader sighed. He hated politics and politicians just like almost every soldier, but they knew that the good of the Empire is first and you can't deny an opportunity to help it.

"Wraith, give me Vasir's location. We'll need to make sure she doesn't escape." he said.

" _Scanning..._ " Wraith informed like he usually did and then spoke again. " _Tela Vasir crashed on the west from our position. I can both detect and smell traces of blood she leaves while walking. Suggest tracking her._ "

"Yes... *sniff* I can smell it too." Phantom Leader nodded his head. Others inhaled the air and also seemed to know where exactly Vasir is. "Okay, I'll take the Phantom squad, with The Wraith too on the zero level and track the target directly." then he looked at the Smokes. Smoke Leader, position your squad in the crucial parts of the area near the bar. I want her caught in the crossfire if we'll engage them. Be ready to block her escape routes too." Smoke Leader nodded and Phantom Leader finally directed his sight to Assassin Leader. "And you stay on the roof. You'll be our eyes and take Vasir out quickly just in case. Be aware though, she still has a disk with her. Damaging it would be... a faliure of this whole mission."

All of the soldiers saluted with respect and went to their designated tasks. Phantom squad and The Wraith were silently walking right behind Vasir, while Smoke squad has positioned its members at every possible escape route they could find. There was no way for the traitorous Spectre to escape easily. Assassin squad deployed their heavy sniper rifles: HS - 6. These were the only guns that were relying on ammo as they were shooting anti-matter. The recoil of this weapon couldn't be stopped even by a bulky krogan if not on a support. Commandos used the edge of the roof as a spot for their kinetic absorbers.

All they had to do was wait. Again.

 **5 minutes later, Shepard's POV**

We easily took care of the Broker's remaining forces. Now it was only us and Vasir that probably tried to escape. We located her crash site, but the skycar was empty. She must've left.

"Blood..." Virox suddenly said after inhaling the air into his lungs. "I smell asari blood... fresh. She is very close and wounded. We need to double time to prevent her escape!"

"Agreed." I nodded and started to run, guided by blood. It was fresh indeed because even I could smell it. Though it wasn't one of the best smells I've ever encountered. "God, does the asari blood always smelled like that?"

"Dunno. We carvins always enjoy the smell of blood." he simply said. "Reminds us how deadly predators we are."

I didn't anwser on that and just kept following the traces. They seemed to be larger the farther we went. Vasir must've been really wounded if she was bleeding more and more. We didn't need to think about it long though because we saw her in the open, limping to get away. A few civilians were standing as this was the bar area, but now dealing with Vasir was on the first place.

"Vasir! It's over!" Liara shouted and pointed her pistol at the traitorous Spectre. The mentioned asari slowly turned around and looked at a nearby woman.

"Hey! Hey you!" Vasir blinked towards the woman and pointed the pistol at her head, terrifying everyone nearby. "What's your name."

"M-Mariana." the woman let out slowly.

"Mariana, you want to live, don't you?" Vasir smirked evily at us. "Tell those people you want to live."

"Please..." Tears were filling Mariana's eyes rapidly.

"We'll get you out of here safely, Mariana." I tried to calm her down. Vasir only seemed to wait on that.

"Well that's good to hear." she pointed the gun at the woman's head. "All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly."

"Please, I have a son." Mariana begged once again.

"A son? I hope he'll get you see you again." Vasir got another thing to tease us, which made me more and more angry. "I heard that losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life."

"Oh well obviously you know that better than any of us, don't you?" Virox seemingly thought that the time has come for teasing revenge. "Your mother has kicked you out of the house and suffed you in a garbage bin. That would also explain why you are such a piece of trash!"

The fire in Vasir's eyes was now clearly visible. That comment probably touched her. I just wonder if Virox's guess about her being kicked out of the house was true. If it was then he's a freakin' god of guessing.

"So you wanna play this game too?" she asked not hiding hate in her voice. "Thermal clips on the ground! Power cells too. Or she will die."

Now she was literally pushing Mariana's head very hard with the pistol. My anger was stronger that the paragon instincts this time. I didn't give a damn on what would happen after this. I needed to spit it out.

"Hiding behind a hostage, Vasir? Don't have a stomach for a REAL fight? Just like an asari." I teased her. "You always attack when the win is assured and when something goes wrong, you escape like COWARDS! I think Virox was right, you are a complete piece of trash. If you think you are a good Spectre, fight me! One versus one!"

"Alright! You asked for this!" Vasir yelled and I saw her pull the trigger.

But then a miracle happened. Before her weapon could fire, it was literally blown from her hand, and flew several meters away from her. Liara used the surprise and shock to lift a table behind her and throw it. Vasir flew away, right into a fountain, while Mariana was kneeling on the ground, but unharmed. I still couldn't belive how that happened, though after a moment I got my anwser.

"Good job guys." Virox said to someone that clearly wasn't us. "I guess there is no one else here so... you can come out."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him a bit confused.

"About us." a voice spoke from behind me. I quickly turned around and drew my pistol only for it to be caught by a metal hand of a carvin soldier. He was wearing a different armor though. He looked more like a cyborg than a normal trooper. He looked at me with disappointment. "And why so rude?"

I didn't know what to say on that, but I got quickly distracted by a water explosion emerging from Vasir's landing site. She emerged from the fountain and blinked away, trying to gain some distace. Other figures started to appear all around us, all of them being carvins.

"Catch me if you can!" Vasir yelled and blinked again, making everyone start to shoot at her.

"Damn it!" a carvin voice sounded in my radio. "I can't get a clear shot when she is like that! Try to immobilize her for a short time."

It turned out to be a sniper that positioned himself on the roof of the bar. He and some of his other friends were constantly providing cover fire from their sniper rifles.

But then something different appeared. Or someone.

Another carvin jumped down from the roof, but he... or whatever it was, was bigger. Taller. And seemed to be even more mechanic than other commandos. He started to slowly walk towards Vasir, not keeping attention on the battlefield around him. That confidence was scaring me a bit. He didn't even had his shields up, so he was more susceptible to enemy fire.

'But maybe that's what it is about?' I thought and it turned out to be right.

Vasir finally noticed strange carvin soldier and after blinking away she shot two bursts from her Vindicator assasult rifle. As anyone would expect, most of the shots hit her possible victim. Carvin soldier grabbed his wounded parts of the body in a ironically familiar way. I saw only few carvins do it that way - Brutes on Qreten.

'Oh God.' I gasped suddenly fearing for Vasir's life. And my fear was justified.

The Brute turned back to his victim and let also familiar earpiercing screech. Though it was a LOT louder than I heard before. The Brute started to glow with blue energy and suddenly biotic charged at Vasir. She flew several meters away, but he wasn't going to give up easily. He blinked towards her and delivered a sweet punch to her jaw. Then he grabbed her by the back and threw at the fountain again.

"All units focus fire on that fountain." the first carvin soldier shouted and it was a moment when the fountain seemed to be in flames. Though Vasir wasn't going to give up. I just changed my thermal clip after shooting her several times when she emerged from the fountain and blinked at the balcony above us.

"Be right back!" she shouted, but the mutant Brute blinked after her.

"I can't get a clear shot on her!" one of the carvin snipers reported. "Seems that The Wraith will need to do the job alone!"

I just learned the name of the strange biotic Brute when two transports suddenly landed in front of us. Inside there was four Broker's standard soldiers, two engineers and one biotic. They started shooting at us, but were quickly overwhelmed by the firepower of both us and carvin commanders. Unfortunately new transports were constantly coming, making it hard for us to kill everyone.

Some of the Broker's forces moved behind cover and I tried to take them down. One merc was stupid enough to peak out of cover exposing both his head and his chest. I aimed at the chest and used the recoil of burst firing of my Vindicator to hit both chest and head. He fell lifelessly on the ground. Other soldiers were quickly eliminated by the overwhelming carvin firepower and their sniper squad on the high ground.

Suddenly Vasir fell down from that balcony, seemingly in worst condition than before. The Wraith jumped down at her and activated his knuckle blades. He swung and stabbed her in the stomach and lifted into the air. Vasir moaned from pain but managed to blink away. That wasn't enough though as he used his biotics to pull her back and smashed her at the ground. She tried to crawl away as she couldn't fight him like that.

The Wraith was about to deal the final blow when suddenly he screamed in pain as his body was electroduced for a short time. I looked at him with surprise and looked around searching for hostiles, as it would seem that the Shadow Broker still had some secret tricks. These shocks repeated for a while until he calmed down and I saw the carvin commando leader with his hand on his wrist computer.

"Sorry bro. I know that you don't like that, but we needed to do that." he said to the Wraith and helped him up. Then he walked towards Vasir who crawled away far enough to gain some breath. "And you..."

"You're dead! The Shadow Broker has been in power for ages!" she let out while trying to keep her breath steady. "He's stronger than anything you've ever faced."

"Is that why you sold out the Council to work for him?" I asked her.

"You think I betrayed the Council? Like Saren? Go to hell!" Vasir had fire in her eyes. "The Shadow Broker has given me a damn good intel over the years. Intel that-"

But she was interrupted by the carvin commando leader who approached her along with two other soldiers.

"Stop moaning. What you say doesn't justify what you have done today. You blew up a building filled with innocent people. You threatened a civilian and finally attacked another Spectre. A Spectre that is probably worth thousand times more than you." he said and nodded his head on his soldiers. Two troopers lifted Vasir and placed handcuffs on her hands. "You'll speak to the Council when we'll have time to get you there. I'll maybe send a postcard for you to jail." then he pulled out something that looked like some kind of a bottle with a needle on the one side. He pressed the object on Vasir's neck and injected the substance that was there, following it with a slap to the face. "And don't you dare dying on me here!"

I looked at all this and suddenly noticed Liara passing me from the left side. She approached the traitorous asari spectre and turned towards the carvin leader.

"May I?" she asked and he nodded. Liara searched for the data disk for a while to finally retrive it undamaged. She then walked away and I decided to follow her. Virox was slowly walking behind me in silence. I couldn't deny that he was loyal.

"It's alright. Vasir won't be a problem anymore. I tried to reassure Liara, who finally seemed relieved for the first time after these 2 years.

"I'm putting the data through to the Normandy's computers. We can be at the Shadow Broker's base in a few hours." she simply said. "He'll know about Vasir before long. If he decides to-"

"We'll get Feron out there alive, Liara." I tried again. I didn't even care about her possibly cheating on me with him. Just wanted her to smile again. "I promise."

"I know." she sighed and I could sense pain in her voice. "You're here to help. Just like always."

"That's not a good thing?" I asked her.

"When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the geth. You fought a krogan battlemaster while I cowered." Liara almost had tears in her eyes, but tried to stop them. "Now you're doing it again and I'm still leaning on you for help."

"That's what friends do, Liara." I told her, though speaking the word 'friends' came really hard. She just started walking and Virox was still behind us, but this time a little farther. I knew that he didn't quite understand our concept of love as his species were different even in this case. He just tried to not be a part of anything like that, because he didn't want to be misunderstood or to hurt someone's feelings. That's why he was now following Liara with me and stayed a bit behind.

"I can get us there based on Sekat's data. The Normandy's stealth drive will keep them from detecting us." Liara continued with the plan. "The Shadow Broker's agents are still shooting their way through Illium. With luck they won't notice we've left until it's too late."

"That's a little cold." I pointed out. "They killed innocent people."

"You know what I mean." she anwsered but I quickly interrupted her as this was getting a little irritating.

"Do I? Back at the Trade Center when I was trapped by Vasir's Singularity and then fell, you went after her without a backward look."

"A little fall wasn't going to kill you." Liara seemed to have guilt on her face when she said that. "I had to stay on Vasir. I had to stay rational, make the call, like I did with Sekat."

"That's Vasir's fault, not yours." I told her.

"Sekat had no idea what the stakes were. I put him in harm's way to get the data I needed. I got him killed. And I'd do it again." she sighed, but then turned serious again. "But from here on out things will be simple - get in, get Feron, get out. And kill anyone who tries to stop us."

"That's it?" I couldn't belive in Liara's ruthlessness.

"That's it." she replied and I decided to end this madness or at least hold it for some time.

"Will you just stop for a second?" I caught her hand tightly so she turned around. "We'll be jumping several light years. There's time to talk."

"About what?" she asked, though her eyes were trying to run away from mine.

"About US." I finally got courage to pursue this topic directly, because I needed to know if she still cares about me or am I just wasting my thoughts.

"Shepard, listen... I'm glad you're here, but..." Liara obviously had problems to get the right words.

"You're worried that there might be terminals you need me to hack?" I let out my irritation.

"That's not fair!" she anwsered.

"You're right, it's not!" all of my pain from our previous meetings was now coming out. "I hoped that there is still at least one person who will understand me and my confusion in this new world I woke up in."

With the corner of my eye I noticed Virox slowly trying to back away from this situation. He knew that I was in love with Liara from Garrus and Tali. Seeing us like that must've scared him or just made him leave us to eachother as he didn't want to be a part of it.

"You can't just come back from the dead and have two years of mourning suddenly vanish." Liara now had clearly visible tears in her eyes.

"Then why did you give me to Cerberus?" I asked her as this backing away needed to come to an end. "To have hope that I come back? You might have also gave me to the Collectors."

"No, I... If I was dead, would you belive if they told you that they can bring me back?" she tried to defend herself.

"I would have hope that you seemed to lack during these two years." I stated and turned towards Virox, who was defianetely standing farther than he was before. "Virox, where are you going?"

Carvin soldier looked at me, trying to express something around 'Help me?' or 'Why?'. He was standing like that for a moment and then sighed.

"It's just my way of thinking. You both should back off a little bit to find a common ground." he started. "As I understand the basics of your concept of love, I hate to see you like that. Just... Just try to get along together. We carvins mostly rely on coexisting and I suggest you to do the same. That's all I wanna say."

Then he slowly walked away. I really didn't know what to say. Maybe I was too aggressive and Liara deserved a bit of compassion from me. There were too many variables I didn't know so I decided to follow his advice. There was still a chance that we can be together again after all.

 **A/N: Whew! Took me four and a half day to finish that. Man, I'm tired, but this chapter is a turning point in my whole fanfiction adventure. Over 13 500 words is the biggest chapter I've ever written. So I changed some things in that chapter. Carvin commandos WILL assist in retaking Broker's base and maybe you'll see them again in ME3 continuation of this story. Anyway let me know what do you think about the chapter in the reviews. Got any ideas? Share with me. Questions? Feel free to ask. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	10. Hunt for the Shadow Lord - Assault

**A/N: Hey guys, Bonker here with another chapter of this story. I noticed you really like this one and I actually was excited writting this chapter myself. I'm planning this story fast and even started reaching to the sequel (based on ME3 after I finish this one). And I also planned to finish this chapter sooner, in 15th of march. This date isn't just a date. Not long ago a weirdo, that then became a Fanfic writter you know, was born that day. Buuuut first...**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Dodles: Aww thanks. You always keep me in good mood and encourage to writting further. And I understand the feeling. If something like this would happen to me, I'd probably react the same (or similar).**

 **kotaro1: Hehe, I know right? I am proud from the last part. Aaand you can expect more arguments between the Carvins and the Citadel.**

 **swordworks: Before you post a review like this, read other chapters. I'm trying my best writting this, but I can make mistakes like all of us. I'm only human after all.**

 **!ANNOUNCMENT!: From now if you want your reviews to be considered, post them at the last uploaded chapter, otherwise I'll not reply on them. I warned you.**

 **And with that being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Normandy, Virox's POV**

I was quiet for the longest time in my life, excluding my long cryosleep. My body was giving me signals that something was wrong with me, but I couldn't define it. Maybe it was because of that encounter between Liara and Shepard. The phenomenon I couldn't comprehend. Especially Liara.

Asari live for over a thousand years, so two years should be nothing for her. And yet she treated Shepard worse than I could imagine. Commander himself wasn't very different. He was aggressive and I could see many emotions in his behaviour - anger, saddness, pain... even fear? But fear of what?

"Why are we so different than the other races?" I sighed and hid my 'face' in hands. It wasn't even a year from the first contact with the Citadel and I was now thinking that... our species do not belong here. Our way of thinking is different, technology we're based on is different, even the physiology is completely different.

To get away from this, I started browsing the Carvin Info Network. Extranet was filled with crap now and I was the only one in the ship to have access to the news from my species. The interesting news were that Carvins were devoting almost a half of their production capability to built the fifth Ark for the Andromeda Initiative. Zayan Te'Kraan, our ambassador on the Citadel said that preserving the existence and the history of our species should be a priority and encouraged other Carvins to support the project with donations. From what the data was showing, Ark Xintus, the Carvin ark was complete in 5%.

"Hey, are you ok?" Garrus suddenly appeared above me. I found this rather disturbing as my sense of hearing was letting me notice him long before he approached me.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that... I still find it difficult to understand some of your behaviours." I said. Not a lie, but not a full truth.

"There is something more to it." he was clever and couldn't be fooled by my attempts to hide it.

"Listen, I just need a bit of time to think about certain things." I tried to end this topic. "By the way, shouldn't be calibrating?"

"It's done." turian smirked with pride. "Now you can tell me what's been up with you since you returned from Illium."

"Fine." I sighed in defeat. He was as relentless as Seviros's flagship (BAD JOKE). "You know that Shepard and Liara were together?" he nodded and I continued. "Well I could see it immediately too. But after retriving the data disk from Broker's agents, it seemed odd as they immediately began to act hostile against eachother."

"That's how the love works." Garrus explained, but I shook my head.

"For you. For me it's completely different. Like... it's not right. It just seems like a very deep friendship, not love. But their pheromones were positive towards eachother, which then contradicts this theory. And then they were arguing as if they were never a couple."

"Oh." he seemed to understand now. Although that didn't make him confused. "Your species are unique, Virox. But that doesn't mean you do not belong here. Dare I'd say you might just save us from the Reapers."

"Well, if you put it that way, I'm ready to kick some serious ass." I laughed, although felt nice in the inside. It would seem that Garrus wasn't only skilled in putting bullets in the heads of his enemies. "Shame you can't come with us."

"Damn I wish I could go with you." he sighed in disappointment. "If you'll have an opportunity, punch the Shadow Broker in the face from me, would you?"

"Copy that." I smiled and picked up my rifle before walking out. Then I caught myself on deeply inspecting the weapon. That wasn't common for me, rather for Garrus.

CAR-26 was a simple, but highly adaptable weapon. In shape it looked kind of like Incistor sniper rifle, but smaller and without the large scope (A/N: Incistor only appears in ME3, but I put it here to describe CAR-26 better). The stock could be adjusted to the user's optimal length. Also instead of two barrels like the Incistor, it had three long energy rails, that were together creating a space in the shape of an upside down triangle. On the side it had small, blue, glowing disk that was a part of the cooling system. The disk was usually popping out when the weapon was overheating.

'Garrus just infected me with his incredible care for the guns.' I thought and went towards the elevator. Fortunately Shepard was already inside. He looked different though. A bit... tense. But he was a specialist if it came to hiding it. I barely noticed that tension hidden behind a mask of professionalism.

The elevator stopped in the hangar. Liara was already waiting in the shuttle, but her body was showing the same kind of tension like Shepard's. We stepped in and the shuttle slowy left the hangar.

I couldn't see the Broker's base or anything like that anywhere nearby, only the planet surrounded in clouds and lightnings. It wasn't showing any signs of landing zone which made me think about 'where' exactly is the Broker's base. Fortunately I didn't need to think for long.

"Hagalaz. The oceans boil during the day, then snap freeze ten minutes after sundown." Liara explained and I finally noticed a grey, metallic thing next to us. It was a ship.

"The Shadow Broker lives in this?" Shepard asked and I was curious about it too. Living the whole life on a ship might get boring... but not when you are the most influential being in the galaxy.

"His ship follows the sunset." Liara continued. "Completely undetectable in the storm, unless you know where to look."

"Okay, I know this looks pretty awesome and stuff, but how do we get inside?" I pointed out, because the carvin commandos were going to 'make' their way in. They decided to come with us and help take down the Broker. "We don't have laser drills and proton cutters that can penetrate kinetic barriers."

"The shuttle bay is locked down. We'll need to land on the ship and hunt for a hatch." she replied. "Though we can't stay outside for long. There's a constant lightning storm where the hot and cold air collide."

I nodded my head and slowly walked towards the hatch. The moment I positioned myself on the left from it, my commlink echoed with the voice of my fellow species.

"Virox, we're in position for breaching, but the Broker has expected company. You'll need to distract them first, before we can breach." Phantom Leader informed me. "Once we're onboard, we'll try to redeem ourselves by creating as much mess and noise as possible. They'll possibly focus on us than you."

"Copy that. Good luck." I said and turned towards the Commander. "Shepard, Shadow Team cannot engage. Broker was expecting a visit and now there is a LOT of his operatives in the area. We'll need to distract them for a while."

"OK, let's roll." he replied quickly and then the hatch opened. We jumped outside and landed on the giant ship of the Shadow Broker.

"There's nothing but equipement here!" Liara shouted. Even through her mask, could be heard sounds of the storm. "We need to find an entrance near the back shielding."

"And probably fight a crap ton of Broker's operatives!" I shouted back. "I'm in!"

All three of us walked to the left edge of the ship, still being cautious not to fall. A possibility of falling was zero, because of our mag boots, but Shepard taught me one human saying that I remember all the time - better safe than sorry.

Suddenly a few red drones popped out of the hatch on our left. They turned towards us and started zapping us with electricity. I haven't waited long and sent a barrage of energy bolts at them.

"Maintenance drones. But why are they attacking?" Commander asked as our synthetic enemies were dead.

"Must think that we're debris from the storm." Liara thought out loud.

"I'll turn THEM into a holographic debris if they'll pop out like that one more time!" I threatened.

We moved forward and eliminated another bunch of drones as they appeared out of nowhere. Well... I did most of the job. As we walked up again and seemed to walk on the diameter of the ship, a few Shadow Broker agents appeared next to two big ass electrical capacitors.

"Be careful, Shepard! Those capacitors will discharge the lightning if you shoot them!" Liara warned.

"Well, if we have a bunch of enemies standing right in front of us, I don't see anything but benefits." I simply said and after a second, Broker's soldiers were dead on the hull of the ship, electrified to death. We went down to the left. Again. And it turned out to be interesting as a few LOKI mechs were waiting for us. I quickly dashed to cover and started laying down cover fire. With such help, Shepard and Liara were slowly moving forward and taking out enemies, Shepard with his rifle and combat powers, while Liara with her biotics.

"Virox, this is Phantom Leader." my commlink sounded in my head. "We detect increased movement on the whole ship. You must've caught their attention. Keep going. We'll try to start some minor cuts."

"Copy that, Phantom Leader. Don't get caught." I replied. After a moment we reached another lightning capacitor and another bunch of soldiers dumb enough to stand near it. I couldn't force myself to shoot again so I turned towards Shepard. "You do the honors this time."

"Thanks. So nice of you." he smirked under his helmet and sent one burst of bullets from his Vindicator rifle. Immediately almost all of the Broker's operatives shared the fate of their friends. Only two Engineers were protected by their shields good enough to survive this amount of energy. Nothing that a bullet in the head couldn't fix though.

One of the ship's energy rods was blocking our way, but Liara quickly found a console that eliminated the problem right this instant. Behind this there was another lightning capacitor and another group of agents.

"What the heck? Do these guys EVER learn?" I was utterly shocked by how dumb the Broker's forces were. "Liara? Maybe you this-"

But I couldn't even finish my sentence as she already discharged the lightning at the poor bastards. No one survived.

After a moment we went down again, but this time on the right. Nothing better than a little change. But it was REALLY close to the edge of the ship. I didn't have a fear of heights. It was the wind and what could lie on the surface of thsi planet that were worrying me.

"Okay, looking down was clearly a mistake." Liara managed to say through her tightly gritted teeth.

"Don't worry, Shepard would catch you even if Sovereign suddenly appeared out of nowhere." I joked, but it was a small step to bring these two together. Time was going to show if that worked out well.

Soon we reached a door that was leading... somewhere inside. I thought that it was going to be nice and warm inside. How badly wrong I was.

Inside there were multiple generators and lightning capacitors heading to the main part of the ship. This just looked like a shelter for any personel that would want to come out here.

"This ship is incredible!" Liara gasped in amazement. "It must've taken decades to build it in secret."

"I wonder what happened to the contractors?" Shepard asked innocently, though all of us could easily think of many ways that they went through to reach the grave.

We quickly left the strange room and started to head up again. I noticed the familiar shape of lightning capacitors and already felt bad for the soldiers that were obviously standing near it. My predictions were 100% accurate. There was a bunch of normal foot soldiers, a biotic, two engineers and a few rocket launcher wielders. All of them went down as the electricity stored inside of the capacitors was unleashed upon them.

"That's just getting sad." I stated looking at the corpses, some of them still moving due to the electroshock. But then I noticed something else. Two soldiers waiting for us... right at the edge of the ship. "Oh, this is just stronger than me! I have to do it!"

They seemed to notice me and despite Shepard's shouts I used my grappling hook to connect myself with something solid and ran towards two poor guys.

BAM!

It took one punch to throw the first one off the ship. The second one got so scared, he started escaping, but tripped over some wires and joined his friend on a journey towards the surface of the planet.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Shepard suddenly appeared behind me. "This is a stealth operation! We could have taken them out fast and silently!"

"They won't call for help anyway and I DID get rid of them really fast." I pointed out. "But ok, no more sick stuff."

We were slowly heading towards the back of the ship, killing random guys that were putting up a fight. After a while we reached another lightning rod and Shepard quickly deactivated it, making a way for us. Our 'way' looked like a corridor with no roof. A perfect spot for an ambush. Fortunately there were no hostiles nearby. The corridor turned into a (not) very safe bridge with electricity sparking on the both sides of the devices next to it.

"Not even a guardrail." Shepard commented. "I bet Broker's agents just 'love' patroling the hull."

"At least the view is nice." Liara quietly said.

"You won't be admiring it if you're dead." I decided to add my opinion as well. "But what do I know?"

After we walked over the bridge, a catwalk took us up again, revealing some kind of entrance.

"There! That hatch can lead us directly to the communication signals!" Liara pointed at the door.

We slowly approached it and I noticed a medical station next to the entrance. As if anybody would survive a fall from the ship or a shock from one of these lightning capacitors.

"It's locked." Liara inspected the door. "Hang on! I've got a bypass shunt program that can crack it."

She activated her omni-tool, clicked a few buttons and another hologram appeared on the door, surrounded by red triangles of warning.

"How long will it take?" Shepard asked while looking for enemies that could be sneaking around.

"I don't know, Shepard. I've never broken into a Shadow Broker's base." she anwsered. "Well not this one anyway."

"Oh, so you've got some experience in breaking into the bases." I grinned. "Well I hope that you also have experience in holding ground. I can smell multiple enemies, even through this storm. They stink a lot."

And here they came - soldiers, biotics, engineers, rocket launcher troopers - all of them trying to keep us away from their leader. I smirked and inspected my gun again, which I caught myself on. I needed to give it a name. But now there were more urgent things than sentiments for a gun. I switched to my incendinary ammo and noticed the first wave of enemies.

It was going to be a bloodbath.

 **Meanwhile with the Shadow Team, No-one's POV**

The distraction was working pretty well. Their elite gunship's scanners were detecting an increased movement at the middle of the ship. No one was passing by near the breaching spot for the Shadow Team.

Phantom Leader was waiting impatiently for the technicians to finish their work. They have already cut through the first layer of armor and wires. Now the only thing that was blocking them from the access to the ship were multiple metal cables that were under high voltage. They transported the energy from the capacitors to all main parts of the ship. One bad cut and they'd all be zapped.

"ETA on the time we're done?" Phantom Leader finally got himselft to ask that.

"2 minutes." Smoke 3 replied while not stopping his work. He along with Phantom 8 were the only technicians in the Shadow Team, but formidable ones. There was no too strong system for them and no door impossible to open. Or create.

Finally the process of creating an entrance was coming to an end. It was a small tunnel for only two Carvins at once. The Wraith took position as the first one to jump out, because of his obvious durability that would shield the others from any unexpected ambush.

"Charges are set, waiting for a green light to breach." Phantom 8 reported.

"Wait for it..." Phantom Leader held them back and started listening. There were some noises on the outside, but scanners weren't showing any sign of activity nearby. "Be ready for anything." and then gave the green light for breach.

Charges went off and the metal part that was blown away, seemed to hit something... soft on the other side. Immediately Carvin commandos were trapped under fire from the Broker's agents.

"Charge!" Phantom Leader shouted as their shields were on critical level. Wraith jumped out without a second thought and with his knuckle blades activated. There were Broker's agents on the other side, but only biotics and normal grunts. Carvin Brute didn't waste time and started slicing every single hostile in sight, charging or blinking from one to another. Charge was often resulting in death as instead of hitting the enemy with his body, he did it with his knuckle blades. Often the victims of such attacks had holes through their stomach.

But other commandos quickly jumped out to support their toughest member. Phantom Squad was the first to come out and using their mid-ranged assault rifles shredded through the hostiles.

When there was no enemies left, other commandos joined the group. They didn't seem very happy.

"Our scanners weren't picking anything." Sniper Leader said in worry. "Broker just slipped his forces right under our noses and we haven't noticed."

"We'll get some payback after we get him." Phantom Leader replied, though he was also worried. "Shepard's team are here just to get that drell out. Hopefully they won't interrupt. Now move out! We need to make some noise to drag attention on us."

"Yes sir!" a chorus of salutes anwsered him and the whole Shadow Team moved towards the possible location of Shadow Broker's office.

During the way they were encountering small groups of soldiers that were trying to put up a fight, but the resistance was being quickly crushed in the loudest possible way: grenades, concussibe shots, biotic explosions, everything that could draw much attention. With every group encountered, the resistance was growing stronger and stronger.

'Plan is working.' Phantom Leader thought with satisfaction as their lousy way of moving forward was probably keeping Shepard's team as safe as it could be now. 'Now we just need to reach Broker's office.'

With the Wraith fighting on the front line it wasn't that hard to move forward. Carvin biotic Brute was literally smashing through any resistance on his way. As one group emerged from the corner, he threw a Singularity at them and the mini black hole quickly trapped them in its gravity field. With his prime for biotic combo set, Wraith unleashed a Shockwave that not only caused explosion of the Singularity, but also knocked few other enemies away.

Wraith didn't even need shields to fight. Quite opposite. His armor was providing him enough protection and regeneration to keep him alive and enough exposure for wounds to sustain his rage. Of course such fights were still exhausting, but the Brutes were taught to manage their rage in the way that wouldn't kill them after a long fight. And Wraith was the first 'Executioner' bred by the Carvin Military.

Other commandos were staying near the walls and covers to minimize their exposure to enemy fire. Of course they could get enraged as well, but another melee fighter could make the fight difficult for the other commandos. That's why every team had maximum of two Brutes.

"Push forward!" Phantom Leader ordered as they were closing in to a big room. There was a strong light coming from there and Broker's forces were seemingly retreating towards that room. The Shadow Team rushed inside and what they saw caused them freeze.

They entered a hangar bay that was heavily fortified and prepared for their arrival. Aside from normal grunts, rocket launcher soldiers, engineers and biotics, there were krogan mercenaries here and there along with hungry varrens.

"Well crap." one of the Smokes said bluntly, but it was indeed a good comment to this whole situation. Now they could just hope that Shepard's team will do their job.

 **Back with Shepard, Shepard's POV**

We breached inside as Liara's hacking program finally managed to open the door. I was glad, because even she didn't know if it will work. Fortunately no one was severely wounded. I had a few scratches, nothing too bad. Liara didn't look like if she got shot once. Virox on the other hand was completely covered in blood. Shadow Broker soldiers' blood. If I didn't know that his species have blue blood, I would think that something bad and unholy unleashed its wrath upon him.

We recieved a message from the Shadow Team that they are in a tight spot, but maybe that will draw the Broker's forces towards them and away from us. I didn't like leaving them under fire though.

Fortunately there were a lot less soldiers in the inside than on the outside. Seemed that we killed a lot of them out there and that the distraction provided by the Shadow Team was working pretty well. Didn't mean that there was no resistance though.

We were staying near the walls on either left or right to get some cover and shred the Broker's forces from a safe distance. After defeating a third group of Broker's soldiers, we started to run up the stairs to get on the higher level.

"I've downloaded the ship's layout." Liara suddenly said and this information was happy to be heard as I started to think that we're getting lost. "We're headed towards the prison block... and Feron."

I immediately felt fire burning my heart because of that drell. Virox seemed to notice this, though I still don't know how, and a message appeared on my HUD. It was 'don't worry. I'll help as much as I can. Nearby airlock should do the trick just fine :)'.

We ran into another room which had an armored glass and a locked door separating vit from another one. There was someone inside, but I couldn't see who it was, because the Broker's soldiers just rushed in.

I quickly moved to cover, but a salarian engineer already managed to damage my shields badly with his tech powers. I launched a concussive shot at him which immediately stripped his shields and Liara finished him off with a warp. Virox in the meantime was using his increased mobility and a grappling hook to his advantage. He was either pulling his enemies towards him with that very reliable tool, or used it to quickly get towards the groups of enemies and kill them with either: his shotgun-mode revolver, knuckle blades, or his spiky cybernetic tail.

Finally all of the enemies in the room were dead and we could proceed to the locked door. Fortunately I could hack it easily. Shame that the omni-gel wouldn't work on it though.

When I finally opened the door, it revealed a drell tied to an electric chair. I didn't need to guess who it is, as from my encounters with Liara I knew who we were going to rescue. He was behind another armored glass though, so freeing him was going to be difficult.

"Feron!" she shouted and quickly rushed to the terminal.

"Liara?" drell whispered weakly.

"Hold on! We're getting you out of here!" Liara stopped him and started to click something on a terminal.

"No!" he tried to stop her, but it was too late. When Liara tried to liberate him, he was electroduced by the restrains of his electric chair.

"I thought it looked a bit too easy." I said, trying to hide my satisfaction. My paragon side of my mind immediately started to shout at me for such thoughts.

"This chair is plugged into the Broker's info network." Feron explained. "You have to shut off the power. Pull me out now and my brain cooks."

"Eww, that's not a nice way to go." Virox said with disgust.

"Wha-what are you?" drell asked curiously.

"No time for that. I'll tell you after we get you outta here." carvin cut the chatter.

"Do you know where we can cut the power?" Liara asked, while trying to do something on her omni-tool.

"It won't be easy. You'll have to go to central operations." he anwsered weakly, while staying calm enough not to get zapped.

"Easy or not, we'll all get out of here." this time my paragon instincts kicked in.

"Good. Central operations are down the hall." Feron let out a weak sigh of relief, still being cautious to his electrical restrains. "You know that the Shadow Broker's waiting for you, right?"

"Of course we do." Virox anwsered bluntly. "That SOB is going to pay for being such a greedy asshole."

"We'll be back for you, Feron." Liara reassured him.

"I'll try not to go anywhere." he joked bluntly.

"Ha, I might even like you." Virox chuckled and we left down the hall where the most influential being in the Milky Way was waiting for us.

Unfortunately the Shadow Broker sent the last bunch of his troops in the area to stop us from reaching him. These troopers were different though. Even normal grunts were smarter, more accurate and their armor was heavier.

"Shepard, Broker's forces are rapidly breaking off the attack! Report!" Phantom Leader from the Shadow Team suddenly connected to me.

"We found Feron, but we'll need to get to the central operations where the Shadow Broker himself is waiting for us!" I anwsered him while hiding behind cover to avoid enemy fire. "If you can, try to slow his troops down so we can deal with their leader quickly."

"Fine! We wanted to do that, but I guess the honors are yours." he said with irritation. "Just don't screw this up. I don't want to explain your deaths to the Council."

"Copy." I ended the call and started to kill the mercs that were still standing on our way to the end of this madness. Fortunately they took a one-way trip to the Afterlife very fast. Not the club on Omega.

Finally there were two doors left to our objective and there was only one poor guy left to defend his master. Virox seemed to feel pity for him as he gave him a quick and not that painful death. Now it was time for the final encounter as I opened the door.

All three of us walked into the room and immediately saw a desk in front of us with something... big and weird sitting behind it. We pointed our pistols at the 'possible' Shadow Broker and waited for his reaction.

He was silent...

Still silent.

I started to get irritated by this, but fortunately he finally tried to establish some kind of communication.

"Here for the drell?" he asked with a low, yet calm voice. "Reckless, even for you, Commander."

Now that just triggered me. He blew up a building filled with innocent people, convinced a Spectre to work for him and didn't hesitate to sacrifice his troops for his own safety.

"That bombing on Illium wasn't exactly subtle." I replied him as calm as I could.

"Extreme, but necessary." Broker anwsered still calm as hell and it started to seriously annoy me.

"No it wasn't!" Liara shouted in anger. "Neither was caging Feron for two years!"

"Dr. T'Soni, your interference caused all this." he looked at her from the shadow. "Feron betrayed me when he handed you Shepard's body. The drell is simply paying a price."

"Someone was bound to come after you for working with the Collectors." I told him while keeping a cold expression.

"It was a mutually beneficial partnership." now the Broker seemed to play with us. "Enough talk. My operations are too crucial to be compromised by a traitor."

"You're quite confident for someone with nowhere left to hide." this time Liara went to teasing.

"You travel with fascinating companions, doctor." he said and looked at Virox. "I appreciate bringing me alive Carvin soldier. Not only we can preform autopsy, but also study the encryption they are using for the data."

At that moment Virox made a few growls with his insect-like mouth and tightened his grip on the rifle.

"You're not putting a hand on anyone!" Liara threatened and stepped a little closer to the Shadow Broker.

"It's pointless to challenge me asari. " he was still annoyingly calm. "I know your every secret, while you fumble in the dark."

"Oh just stop it!" I saw a quick flash in Virox's eye. It usually meant that he was going full teasing or full edgelord. I just never knew which one. "I saw one of your kind on Sur'Kesh, mister yahg. I guess your species aren't good for anything except autopsy or being a pet." a clear grin, accompanied by the eyes in evil expression, appeared on his face. "From the data on extranet I know that sixty years ago your homeworld was discovered. The Shadow Broker is known for his activity in the galaxy FAR before you could even leave your native planet, you primitive, insufferable piece of crap. So not a very good mind is needed to conclude that you must've killed the original Shadow Broker." at this moment yahg flinched a bit, but it was rather from irritation than fear. It seemed that this was the reaction Virox wanted as the grin on his face was getting bigger and bigger. "Don't feel bad. When you're gonna share the fate of Vasir, you won't need to bother with your job anymore. Just like her."

At that moment Broker stood up, showing us his true size. He was about a meter higher than Wrex, the biggest krogan I ever saw. I backed off a little as his intentions weren't obviously very friendly. And that move was good.

Shadow Broker suddenly slammed his fist at his desk, breaking it in half as a result. Then he grabbed one part and threw it at us. I predicted it just in time and pushed Liara out of the way, but the broken desk managed to hit Virox directly in the head.

I looked at him and he was now pinned to the wall by a big metal piece of the desk, but wasn't moving. There was no time for that though. Broker won't die by himself.

 **Virox's POV**

'Ahh shit.' was my first thought after my brain started working again. 'That SOB is frickin' strong. '

But then, after most functions of my head were restored, the pain came. I realized how badly that desk hit me and that one of its metal parts was literally piercing my side and pinning me down to the wall.

Pain was unbearable. Seemingly through a fog, I could see Shepard and Liara shooting the Broker who was wielding some kind of machine gin.

I tried my best to liberate myself from that piece of metal, but the harder I tried to pull it out, the more pain I felt. At one point I felt like I was dying. Like I wanted to die. I begged for this to end.

But then my instincts of survival kicked in. I could literally hear Seviros' voice, years ago on the training saying: if you're going to die, make sure to take as much of these bastards with you.

That was it. My vision went red. Every second of pain was making me ten times more angry than normally. I didn't care if I'll bleed out here, as long as the Broker will go down with me.

I started pulling the metal harder, not paying attention to the pain. It was slowly coming out and when it finally did, I fell on the ground free and burning for revenge.

The Broker was hit hard by Shepard and Liara and I noticed a white, sparky bubble forming around him. Liara tried to shoot it, but it didn't work. I slowly decided to sneak on the Broker from behind.

"Shield...-netically sensitive!" through the rage I could hear the asari shouting, but it was not clear. "-ergy and... are bouncing off."

"Then we do this the hard way!" this time I heard Shepard very clear.

Even when enraged, I haven't lost all of my awareness. Like a wild predator, I finally took position behind the Shadow Broker and when he was paying attention on Shepard and Liara, I activated my knuckle blades, leaped into the air and landed on the Broker's back, stabbing him in result.

He screamed in pain and grabbed me by my cybernetic hand. I tried to escape, but he already threw me on the ground. I quickly stood up and took the pose of the enraged Carvin - I kept my profile low with hands widely on the right and left. My tail was above my head, ready to unleash a barrage of poison darts, or just to smash it at something.

Broker and I were circling around eachother and for some reason Liara and Shepard weren't interfering. Not that it was much of a problem though.

I finally decided to initiate the fight and quickly ran towards my enemy. Broker also did that, but I noticed something forming from his omni-tool. It was big and wide.

It turned out to be an omni-shield. I quickly dodged the swing and used my knuckle blades to stab the Broker in his leg. He cried from pain while I used my tail to smash all of its spikes at the yahg. He backed off a little, but I wasn't planning to let him have any sort of rest. When he reloaded his gun, I leaped into the air and launched my grappling hook at his head. Unfortunately the Broker managed to dodge that deadly strike and the hook hit his arm instead. I quickly pulled myself towards him and using my speed, I rammed into him, staggering him in the result.

But the Shadow Broker was smart and I knew it. When I was about to attack him again, he slammed his omni-shield at me and used it to pin me to the wall again. His strength wasn't letting me liberate myself this time, but fortunately Shepard and Liara came to rescue.

A good barrage of bullets and combat/biotic powers caught the Broker's attention, which resulted in releasing me. He turned around to face the Commander and that was his biggest mistake. I quickly stabbed him in the back with my knuckle blades.

Shadow Broker screamed in pain and backed off, knocking off Shepard and Liara by the way. He turned around and put up his omni-shield which was now making things a lot more complicated.

But there was nothing impossible for the Commander. He pulled out the Widow sniper rifle and aimed for the Broker's arm that was holding his machine gun. The projectile should've torn the target's hand off, but the yahg just dropped his weapon, while his hand was still in one piece.

'Ain't this just a son-of-a-bitch.' I thought and rushed towards the Broker again. But I calculated the danger badly as he did the exactly same thing. I couldn't match him with strength and after a second his omni-shield sent me flying across the room.

Fortunately that move made him exposed for the weapon fire. Shepard took out his Eviscerator shotgun and literally shot the yahg in the head. His shields absorbed the whole damage, but there was only his armor left. Commander dodged the shield attack and this time aimed for the back of the Broker. In the meantime Liara was attacking from the front and soon the freshly restored armor was quickly destroyed.

Shadow Broker put up his barrier again, which was the exact thing I was waiting for. When the protection bubble was up, I launched my grappling hook at the ceiling above the Broker. When I had enough speed, I deactivated the hook and flew straight at my future victim. The moment my knuckle blades connected with his body, another roar was heard.

'Can you just die?' I thought through the rage-filled mind.

Although he didn't plan on dying very soon. He grabbed me by my tail this time and threw at Shepard. We both hit the wall and the Broker picked up his machine gun. The firepower of this dangerous weapon forced Liara to find cover, as she was the only one of us standing. I noticed a thoughtful expression on her face, which gave me hope that this unholy monstrosity will finally die.

"If you can make him to bring up that shield again, I've got an idea!" she shouted to us and surprisingly I managed to hear this with no problem.

Shepard seemed to hear it as well and decided to end this fight quickly by pulling out the one and only... Collector Particle Beam.

If Commander was ever pulling out this gun, it meant that we were either in a bad spot or he was going to leave carnage behind him, all of our enemies being a part of it. Although the first option wasn't excluding the other.

And the beam was unleashed. My short-ranged scanners were detecting an instant evaporation of the Broker's shields and soon it was going for armor as well. I jumped on his back and kept stabbing him, until I could feel the flesh agfter every stab and smell the yahg blood. Shadow Broker backed off a bit and activated his shield again. That's what we were waiting for.

"Now Liara!" Shepard shouted.

She unleashed her biotic powers at the glass above us. It was blocking some kind of... 'water under voltage' from us.

'Wait! Water under voltage?' I suddenly realized and tried to jump away, but it was too late. The sparky liquid caught both me and the Broker, though I was far enough to only be badly electrified rather than blown up like him.

But it was still bad. That strange liquid caught my whole left arm and part of my organic torso near it. The high voltage immediately took out my already weakened shields so there was nothing to protect my exposed body. I lost feeling in my left hand and arm. Now my cybernetic implant was lifelessly hanging down. I felt dizzy from the electricity and sat down for a moment.

The moment has passed and suddenly I heard multiple voices speaking together. I looked towards the source and noticed the Broker's terminal. These were his contacts requesting update on what happened. It was clear than when Liara broke that glass, there was a short power circut. As I tried to stand up, Liara approached the communicator and started talking. I was hearing every word clearly.

"This is the Shadow Broker. The situation is under control. We've experienced power fluctuation while upgrading hardware. It disrupted communications momentarily" she said and I started thinking if she was prepared for this as well. "However we're now back online. Resume standard procedures. I want a status report on all operations within the next solar day." then she paused for a while. "Shadow Broker out."

I suddenly noticed Feron in the room. He probably broke free while the power went out for a moment. I was about to greet him, but then the door to the room opened and the whole Shadow Team ran inside and surrounded us. They were aiming their weapons at Liara, but ONLY her surprisingly. Everyone in the room looked at them in shock.

"Well, well, well." Phantom Leader chuckled quietly. "So you've decided to take the Broker's network for yourself?"

"Liara isn't a threat to any of us. Stand down!" Shepard stated, but they didn't react.

Trying to do something, I approached the Phantom Leader itself and punched his weapon off his hands with my functional right hand. Immediately everyone started to aim at me, but I suddenly felt a high load of energy going through my body.

"She... can... help us." I let out before falling on the floor unconcious. The last thing I saw were some members of the Shadow Team gathering around me along with Shepard. My vision was blurry and I realized that maybe this fight was too much for one day. Although there was nothing that could change the past. Now the best thing to do was to wait...

 **1 hour later, Normandy, Garrus' POV**

Of all things that would happen on the Broker's ship, I wasn't expecting Virox to be out of fight, just because of a long fight. It was just not right. He was always ready for anything and never showed any sign of exhaustion during the fight. Now he had one limb out of action and was unconcious. He was brought onboard the Normandy by the Carvin commando unit on the levitating mini-bed, along with a metal hand. They immediately placed him in the med bay and had some talks with Dr. Chakwas. After that they left, but before they did, one of them used his wrist computer to literally overload every single bug, placed by Cerberus, on the deck 3.

After about half an hour from their departure from the Normandy, I went to the med bay to check on Virox. Dr. Chakwas had just woken him up.

"Wyat's up, Virox?" I said after entering the room. "Seems that the Broker punched you harder than you've expected."

"Ahh, shut up." he moaned and adjusted the position on the bed. Due to his tail, he needed to lie on either left or right side of his body. "It was Liara's fault. BUT I have managed to ride on the Broker's back."

I chuckled on that. If he was riding a Praetorian, the Shadow Broker himself, then there was nothing that could stop him. I suddenly noticed a datapad next to his bed and picked it up.

"What's that?" I asked curiously because it was written in a very strange language.

"An offer." he replied, though quieter this time.

"Of what?" I kept going.

Virox was silent for a moment, but then seemed to come back to reality, "These commandos you've seen... They wanted me to join them."

I froze. Of course Virox was a new teammate. Not everyone liked him either, but a thought of him leaving was filling me with fear and saddness.

"And what did you say?" I asked with hesitation.

He gave me a strange look like if I just fell off the sky. "Are you kidding!? Of course I declined the offer! I won't be leaving you any time soon."

I laughed on that, but decided to change the topic. "What's up with your hand?"

"Oh it was just damaged, but the wprost part is that the part of my nervous system, has been damaged exactly near the left arm." he explained. "Let's just say I'll be 'unarmed' during the process of healing." then he stopped and stood up. "Hey, why don't we get out of this room?"

We both left the med bay in silence and then Virox started to make sounds that were probably equivalents of sneezing for his species.

"Is Shepard in his cabin with Liara?" he asked between the two sneezes.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I looked at him with surprise. "Should I ask EDI to get them here?"

"Haha, no." Virox chuckled. "I smell that they are in the middle of something important and shouldn't be interrupted.

I started at his weirdly, but after a moment I understood and smirked as well. They were during something important indeed and we should leave them be. For now.

 **A/N: Sorry it took me so long. Basically I couldn't find focus during this month because of very distracting events. Also Mass Effect Andromeda will be released in an hour from the moment I upload this chapter. Carry on everyone!**

 **Bonker out!**


	11. SPECIAL: Carvin Biology

**A/N: Hi guys. Bonker is back and I've noticed from the view stats that you really liked the previous chapter. I'm very happy that you like my stuff and new readers appear, even when I'm not writting much. I always need to correct several things in the chapter as I think is a piece of trash. Speaking of trash, I'm going to rewrite chapter 3 of the story. Many people were notifying me that it needs an edit. I know that and I will focus my efforts to fully rewrite it, though the basic plot will still be the same.**

 **I already managed to finish the main plot of ME: Andromeda and I think that it's not as bad as some people say, but who am I to judge that?**

 **Anyway, as promised this chapter will be a special, regarding the Carvin physiology to just sum up all of their traits. I just noticed that I didn't give them a full descryption and now I'm fixing that. Any new trait that I might accidentally add in the future chapters is allowed to be roasted by your immortal flames of hate.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Guest: Thank you so much, it really helps. I got a lot of hate on the chapter 3 of my story (which is indeed a bit bad, I'll need to rewrite it) and my inspiration wasn't that good. And actually I thought about the same damn thing! Connecting the Milky Way with the Andromeda Galaxy was indeed part of my plan, but this will go deeper into the plot. I already have ideas to connect these things together.**

 **Shadowhorror: Yes, I will. I'm actually pretty excited for writting a SECOND continuation to this story (first will be about ME3 and Reaper War). BUUUUT I will indeed show the interactions between the Carvins and the Citadel races while preparing to departure. And they shall be the only one smart to quietly bring some big guns to defend themselves :) Also thank you for the compliments.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy**

 **BASIC INFORMATION**

Height: 1,7 - 1,9 m

Backbone group: Vertebrates

Group: Reptiles

Diet: Omnivorous

Lifestlyle: Predator

Amino acid: Levo amino-based

 **Short descryption:** Carvins are big, omnivorous and long living reptiles (can live around 1000 years). Although the first look may suggest that they are carnivorous predators, their digestive system is indeed capable of digesting many kinds of plants **(A/N: For the full look on the carvin physiology, go to Sporepedia, switch to Search, tick Filter By 'All' on the very bottom, and type 'therealbonker' in the creature name. Should be there.)**.

 **Lifestyle and adaptation:** While it is unlikely for such dangerous and predators to eat plants, diet of Carvins is mostly based on meat. Their apperance clearly suggests adaptation for fighting and hunting. Their leg muscles are strong from the moment they hatch, allowing them to run for incredibly long distances with admirable speed. They also allow them to jump quite far. Although their cybernetic equivalents aren't worse by any matter. Their organic hands, before being replaced by cybernetic implants, are hardened by bony armor and scales. Sharp claws were indeed formed to slice and pierce any natural armor. In addition their tail with a saw-like bone structure at the very back clearly suggest adaptation for killing. Its spikes are rich in titanium which explains why Carvins sometimes eat metal and why these spikes are so hard. Last but not least of the natural weapons, below the spiky end of the tail, where usually organic and mechanic part of the tail meet, there is a poison gland with a lot of bony darts on them. Using special muscles these darts can be launched on about 20 meters. They contain neurotoxins produced by the Carvin's body and some of the 'friendly' viruses to infect the host. Weak organisms can be killed by this poisonous mixture in less than a minute. Carvins also possess a pair of feathered wings which don't allow them to fly, but rather glide for short distances. When not used, they are positioned on the Carvin's back in a way that they won't restrain or limit any movement.

 **Amino acid:** Carvins are biologically based on levo amino acids, but they have seemed to develop a second 'mini-stomach' which is a lot less efficient, though it can digest dextro amino food. While it seems very good adaptation, the energy required to digest such food AND turn them into levo amino is limiting the gain of necessary substances greately. Basically the energy income is only 10% of the whole food. It's often not enough to save a very weak individual, but can still serve as a last resort food.

 **SENSES**

 **Vision:** Carvins have incredibly big eyes. They are size of 1 1/2 of a salarian eye. Their range of colour includes infrared and ultraviolet, which makes them incredibly dangerous night predators. With such big eyes they can see up to 280o. Just like with turians conventional camouflage is useless agains them. Although the big eyes can be easily damaged and even with the natural regeneration of organs it would take weeks and sometimes even months to restore them.

 **Olfaction:** While Carvins don't have a 'nose' like the other species, their mouth has many receptors on what humans would call the palate. Unlike with the other senses, it doesn't work very well underwater. Nonetheless Carvins are really sensitive to blood, but not exactly erytrocites, rather blood plasma which is rich with nutriens. That doesn't mean they are completely unable to smell blood. They can do that from about 200 meters if the wound is fresh and wind is good.

 **Hearing:** There are a few small lines on the Carvin's cheeks. They look a bit like gills of a fish. These little lines are the Carvin equivalent of ears. On their inside, there is a very thin membrane that is very sensitive to vibrations of both the air and water. When in quiet enviroment, this membrane adjusts itself to detect even quieter sounds. That adjustment is can turn into disadvantage as the membrane is more vulnerable to loud sounds which can stun for a short moment.

 **Taste:** Even if the biggest part of the Carvin's mouth is outside (three thin, bony jaws in a shape of an upside-down triangle), just like with other speices the taste receptors are inside of the oral cavity. There are no special traits of that sense in this case.

 **Touch:** Even without the cybernetic implants, Carvin sense of touch is beyond average. They can immediately recognize the species just by a single poke, even through clothing. Mechanical replacements gave them even more abilities. With enough adjustment, each individual can make himself/herself immune to any pain from all sources. It can also work on temperature so they don't feel heat or chill in their mechanic limbs.

 **BODY TRAITS**

 **Rage:** Quite similar to its krogan counterpart, but still a bit different. It is triggered by great anger, fear or if certain individual has recieved a sustained damage over time. When enraged, Carvin's body is stripped from any mental AND physical barriers. They feel no pain, no fear and those Carvins who calm down after their first rage state that 'it feels like if all of their abilities were strengthened three times stronger than normally'. Enraged individual is resistant to almost anything until some of his basic organs work. If the energy resources run out before calming down, the body will start to literally 'eat' the less important of its own parts. It usually begins from the skin, through kidneys and can even proceed to the stomach and digestive system. Sometimes the injuries caused by this 'self-sacrificing' can be fatal and lead to death if not treated well.

 **Extreme regeneration:** If provided enough resources, almost any organ, tissue or cell can be easily regenerated if given enough time. That gives Carvins incredible resistance on any sort of damage. The only exception for the regeneration is brain. If the brain is damaged, all of the knowledge, memories, habits or behaviours stored in the particular part of it is lost. But in this case the cells can be rebuilt quickly and the knowledge, memories, habits or behaviours that have been stored in the lost part of the brain can be obtained again faster. (Ex. If a Carvin soldier got his brain damaged and his ability to shoot accurately has been lost, it's a lot easier to learn it again). This particular trait protects the Carvins from recieving any permament damage, except in case of completely removing certain organs or death.

 **Long lifespan:** Directly connected to the previous trait. With such incredible regeneration, Carvins can usually live up to average 900-1000 years. The oldest known Carvin died in age of 1197. This makes them a third race in the Milky Way galaxy that has such lifespan.

 **Two Hearts:** Similarly to krogan, Carvins have a 'backup' heart, but technically both hearts are of the same size and the same strength. Each can work independently without the other one, although the individual which has one heart not functional is getting tired easier. When a heart is disabled, the brain stimulates the production of enzymes that first 'clear' the heart of any potential hazards (bullets, shrapnel, etc.). Then the unfixable parts of the organ are being dissolved to begin rebuilding the tissue from the parts that are mostly intact.

 **Poikilothermia:** Just like most of the reptiles, Carvins are poikilothermic and can function in a wide range of temperatures, though their functionality may not be as efficient as in the optimal temperature. If given enough food and water, some Carvins can survive months in extremely hot or cold enviroment without much protection from the temperature.

 **Strong immune system:** Apart from three basic types of lymphocites (Macrophages, T and B cells) Carvins also possess additional type of lymphocite called V cell ('V' from _viral_ **\+ A/N: I thought of this myself. Don't treat it as a source of knowledge** ). These cells are a bit bigger than normal white blood cells, but their efficiency makes Carvins immune to all kind of bacteria. V cells produce and release swarms of 'friendly' viruses that attack bacteria by reproducing inside them, and other viruses by dissolving the proteins that keep them together. In addition any toxin that gets into the body is either broken down or turned into harmless substances or repelled out of the body either by skin or lungs.

 **Very 'stable' DNA:** While 'stable' may not be a good word to explain it, but Carvin DNA has a specific trait - it doesn't mutate and hasn't shown any signs of change during all these billion years of Carvin expansion. It would seem that they are facing a genetic stagnation. Although that also serves as an advantage - it is very hard to alter their DNA, which makes them incredibly resistant to any kind of radiation. That also means it is impossible to naturally develop biotic abilities after being exposed to Element Zero. Biotic units need to be 'made' by pumping extraordinary amounts of this material into Carvin's body for an individual to gain biotic abilities.

 **REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH**

 **Sexual:** Carvins have both male and female individuals. What's interesting though is that, during the search for partner, male or female Carvin is releasing special kind of pheromones that contain his/her genetic code and information about gender, physical and mental traits. These pheromones were proved to be odorless for most of the species (except krogan), but strong for Carvins themselves. If another Carvin individual will react positively to the pheromones, he/she will release his/her own pheromones (if interested in a relationship) to check the potential partner's response to it. In over 99,8% of the cases the new couple shall have a very efficient, empathetic and understanding relationship.

 **Oviparity:** As reptiles, Carvins indeed lay eggs. What's interesting though is that the fertilization occurs through the poison which Carvins use as a weapon usually. When ready for reproduction, male individual gives the female his genes through the poison darts (all Carvins are immune to this poison if they formed it themselves). After fertilization, female individual is waiting one month for egg to be formed. Then it leaves the body and after another two months a Carvin baby hatches. During the formation of the egg, Carvin female needs increased amount of food, about double than normally. After the egg leaves her body she can immediately be fertilized again. That allows to lay at least 12 eggs in a year. Of course there is a possibility of having up to 3 eggs at once, just like with human twins.

 **Fast growth:** Carvins grow incredibly fast. They can reach their maximum height in 10 years and become biologically adult at the age of 6. That's also when their organic hands are being replaced by their cybernetic equivalents. The limbs themselves can be changed to bigger or smaller, but the special implants in place of each limb stays the same. It acts as a base for a mechanical limb to be connected to.

 **MENTAL/BRAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAITS**

 **Shape and construction:** Carvin head is a bit 'flat', but they compensate for that with tightly formed brain cells and hard bone structure as protection. While the Carvin brain is about half as big as human (for an adult individual in both cases), its density is about 4 times bigger. That creates a small spot in the body with a lot of processing power.

 **Control resistance:** As much as it is unlikely, Carvins seemed to develop a strange 'safeguard' for any type of mind controlling. There are a few points in the Carvin brain which can be activated by altering the individual's free will. They stimulate extreme pain and increase the blood pressure all over the body. The stronger attempts to break the Carvin will, the greater is pain and pulse as well. At one point the pulse is so strong that both of the hearts overwork and start to crack resulting in death. Other option is that the brain can't handle such pressure and the 'safeguard points' explode, resulting in complete destruction of individual's head. They are impossible to remove without killing the Carvin in process as this process is also understood as an attempt to alter someone's will.

 **INTERESTING FACTS**

 **(A/N: Read with caution as there might be hints to the plot hidden. Happy analysing :D)**

Carvins learn division faster than multiplication.

Carvins are not ticklish.

When alone, Carvins always find their way to head north, while not having any sort of connection to the magnetic field of the planets.

According to salarian and asari scientists, Carvins don't seem to fit to the ecosystem they are from. They don't resemble any creature from there and their genetic code doesn't show any similarities to other life forms.

While enraged, Carvin vision turns red, probably because of the priority for infrared sight during this state, as it is easier to track the prey like this.

On Thessia an animal skeleton was found. It resembles Carvins in some way, but its form was clearly altered by an unknown factor. It looks like a funnier version of Carvins, but with its head bigger and different arms. Skeleton has over 80 000 years and was confirmed to have biotic abilities on high level so it is impossible to be Carvin. It is stated that it might be an old species that went extinct.

 _Further data is still being gathered on the Carvins. They aren't very cooperative in that manner. We will continue to study our new neighbours in the galaxy._

 _Citadel Cultural Center._

 **A/N: OK, the last part was kind of a joke from me, but I couldn't hold myself. I'll delete it if you won't like it. As for now, I'll focus on the main story again and think about rewritting chapter 3. It's really shit. If you wanna find out more about the Carvins, suggest the next topic for a special. Hope you guys enjoyed another piece of information about my species. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	12. A day off and memories from the past

**A/N: Hey, Bonker here! So here I am with a new and NORMAL chapter. I finally managed to fill again the giant empty space where my inspiration should be. My story is getting more popular with every chapter and it only motivates me to write more for you. I'm sorry that it takes so long to write these chapters, but the upcoming ones are going to be based directly on the levels from Mass Effect 2, which is easier to write. I wish I could say that this was because of the school or something like that, but no. All the shit is on me this time. Sorry again, I feel like a total crap with that.**

 **I fixed something in my plot regarding to future Reaper War and Carvin origin. Expect a huuuge plot twist :)**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Shadowhorror: Thank you. It is nice to have another active member of our small, yet growing community. These reviews really help me. As for the reproduction, yes you are right here, although there is a reason why Carvins possess all these particular traits. :D**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Virox's POV**

 **(a few hours after the events from chapter 11)**

There was darkness.

Then I saw bright light

I felt like I've been through something like this before. In the same place. Shepard called this feeling 'deja vu'.

But now the light was brighter.

And I was lying on something soft.

'Waaaaait a minute.' I started to come back to my senses. 'That's not the AI core!'

I opened my eyes to see the almost completely white room with bright lights. I was lying on a bed in the medbay. Chakwas was sitting at her desk while holding something that looked like...

"Doctor Chakwas?" I spoke weakly as my head was still hurting. "Why are you holding my cybernetic hand?" then I looked at my left arm and my surprise grew even bigger. "Wait!" Now my brain was fully awake. "Why my arm isn't on its place."

Chakwas turned towards me in surprise. "Virox! I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly." She put my cybernetic arm on her desk and approached me after activating her omni-tool. "Your species' regeneration is incredible. I wouldn't belive that any creature is capable of something like this if I haven't seen it on my own eyes." she stopped at the bed and looked at my shoulder which felt so light without my cybernetic limb now. "As for your arm, your Carvin friends got you there and removed the arm themselves for your safety. Now I was just studying its construction. It's absolutely fascinating."

"Thanks doctor, but when can I get it back?" I asked as being armless was a bit uncomfortable, even if it was left arm. It wasn't my first time without it. Giving them to maintenance was a must for soldiers of Carvin army. Nevertheless, I still wanted my arm back. Though it was nice that Shadow Hunters decided to come to the Normandy, a Cerberus corvette (no, wait! Frigate.) with bugs and hidden cameras literally everywhere.

"I'm sorry, but you won't be getting back your old arm." she said while scanning the spot where my missing limb was supposed to be with her omni-tool. "Your Carvin friends gave you one of theirs after they helped to bring you back on the Normady, as your old one was damaged too badly. Also they left a message for you."

"Whoa! I just got a tiny bit of that weird water on my arm. It shouldn't be that bad." I looked at my left shoulder to see it surrounded in a lot of small blue-coloured veins on my green-coloured skin. They DID indeed look bad.

"Well, from what Shepard said, this 'electric water' literally disintegrated the Shadow Broker." Chakwas pointed out and she had a point with this one. "Even without the bigger knowledge on your species I know that you shouldn't be overworking that spot."

"Alright, alright." I sat down on the bed and held my right hand in a defeated gesture. Although something was still troubling me. "Also, you said they left a message for me. Where?"

"It was rather a box. Garrus volounteered to keep it for you in the main battery." she explained as she went back to studying my broken cybernetic arm. "Your friends were very skeptical about giving it to him but then they blocked it with a password that 'you would obviously know'."

"OK, fair enough." I nodded my head and got off the bed. "Can I go now? I have an incredibly great fear of doctors and needles."

Doctor Chakwas chuckled weakly and activated her omni-tool which displayed something that looked like a scalpel. I started laughing as well.

"You may go." She waved her hand at me which was clearly a signal for me to immediately get out. But then she stopped me for a moment. "Oh and could you tell Garrus to come to the medbay for a checkup of his scars?"

"No problem. Anything to get outta here." I nodded my head and left the room. Some of the Cerberus crewmembers were looking at me with surprise, curiousity or sometimes even disgust. Not that I blamed them.

While I lied about the fear of needles, I have a little dislike for doctors. After our ship was critically damaged during the end of the Great Grox War, I was literally impaled on a piece of metal and burned badly. They had to put me into stasis without any painkillers as our medical infrastructure almost utterly ceased to exist. I never forgot the pain from that day, but at least I made it to this year. To face another threat that wants to kill all living creatures in the galaxy. It's just my luck.

I headed towards the main battery and right when I approached the door, a scream could be heard. It was clearly Garrus, so I didn't waste my time and walked in to see the reason of him practicing high-pitched screams.

"Garrus, what's with you and..." I started, but then saw him lying on the ground unconcious. Next to him there was the box that Chakwas was talking about. I scanned my turian friend with my visor and immediately saw the problem. "And that's what you get for touching the things you do not own."

He was probably zapped by the safeguard system of the box, which brought me to the next thought: what was this valuable to rig the box for only me to open it? Guess it was up to me to find out.

I turned on the small computer on top of the box. It was a standard Carvin security tech, which was identifying the user by the direct link to the brain. I placed my right hand on top of the box and immediately felt an energy pulse through it, followed by another in my head.

"Access granted. Have a good day, Virox Ri'Kaan." a voice from the box said and then my beloved container was unlocked. Though I didn't want to open it alone so I approached unconcious Garrus."

"*SLAP* Wake up!" I slapped him in the face a couple of times.

"Mmmm... 5 minutes..." he started to mumble, probably still half asleep. "I'm in the middle of-chrrrr... calibraaaaationssss..."

'Really? I expected more from you.' I rolled my eyes and repeated the proceedure. The same result. That was getting irritating. But then an idea appeared in my head and I grinned evily. 'Someone once said: fight fire with fire. I'm gonna check the effectiveness of this method.'

I locked the box back so it would react violently to any invalid attempts of unlocking it. Then I grabbed Garrus' hand and moved it towards the container. The moment they touched eachother I could feel a weakened electrical pulse going through my hand as my cybernetic implant had special protection. Unlike Garrus'.

"AHH!" he immediately woke up and looked at me in surprise. "Why on spirits would you do that?"

"Well you refused to wake up even when I was slapping you in the face so... I needed to use extreme methods." I said bluntly and he looked at me with annoyance. "Hey! I'm giving you a favour! Wanna check what's in the box, or should I knock you out again?"

"Fine." he grumbled and I helped him to get up. "Your friends really didn't trust me with this."

"And, seeing the final outcome, their distrust was justified." I smirked and unlocked the box again. All of the security was deactivated and I pressed the green 'OPEN' button on the top of it. "Let's see what you've got for me here..."

Container released a bit of white steam and slowly began to reveal the content. There was some metal stuff inside; that I could tell for sure. After a few seconds of anticipation, which felt like hours, the box fully opened itself, letting us see what was inside. And that made me speechless.

"Oh... my..." I looked at the content with amazement. "You have gotta be kidding me..."

"What?" Garrus asked me curiously and I remembered that he was still there. He obviously didn't know what he was looking at. "What's so special about these guns?"

Inside there were indeed guns and some attachments to them, but it wasn't just some ordinary equipement. Assault rifle CAR - 26 VT, which was a special version of the original CAR - 26 was taking most of the space. I pulled it out and immediately noticed it's lightness. It was clearly customized specially for me and had improved scope, enhanced kickback nullifier and additional 'automatic shotgun' fire mode. Rumor has it that those things could punch through a krogan warlord in 4 seconds of constant fire, AND that it was tested in the field. I couldn't wait to check it out by myself. We were fighting angry mercs, who had krogan warlords amongst them, on a daily basis.

"It looks like your old one, just a lot fancier." Garrus commented as I held the weapon in my one operational hand with no problem. "Can I take a look?"

"...Okay." I gave him my new weapon still hesitating a little. "But if you'll break anything on the ship, I'm denying any involvement in this."

He nodded and took the gun in his hands while I pulled out a second thing from the box. It was a pistol, remastered version of the old SR - 16, but without the 'shotgun mode', because it was already in the rifle. The weapon was not only lighter, but also a bit smaller. Without the alternative fire mode, it could use all of its power to fire about 40% stronger and 15% more accurate energy bolts. I checked how the weapon fits in my hand, but then realized that I have implants and these guns were made to fit our cybernetic limbs. It felt good though and I could do a lot of damage with this pistol while having one less arm.

I looked inside the box again to check if apart from the weapons, modifications and paint (for the guns, 'cuz why not?) there was anything else and noticed a small, flat object in a black leather bag. Probably some sort of datapad. I grabbed the object and immediately recognized a metallic structure underneath the thin bag made of leather. On the material it was written: "Nothing is lost forever as long as it remains in our minds. Go forward, but don't forget what's left behind."

Only one person I knew could write something like this, but I didn't know why would such quote be used in this situation. I Grabbed the old-fashioned zipper in the top left corner of the bag and pulled it to reveal the content. Inside there was indeed a black datapad, but without any keyboard. It had only one button on the bottom.

"Huh, what's that?" Garrus asked after he finished playing with my new assault rifle. Fortunately he didn't break anything. "Is it some sort of mythical datapad that can turn any living being into stone?"

"I wish." I chuckled on that question, but deep inside I knew that this was something more, especially with that strange quote. My hand moved to the only button on this datapad - the key to unraveling the content of this device. I pressed it and immediately the whole object started coming to life. A blue aura of light formed around the screen and I could feel the vibrations of the mechanism that was taking its first breaths after a long time of inactivity. Finally the screen itself woke up and revealed... the lost memories of the past.

"No..." my brain was refusing to admit that this was true...

 **Garrus' POV**

The moment he activated this datapad, Virox started to act strange. It was about 30 seconds since the screen activated and he was just sitting there staring at a photo, which I could not see. I concluded that there was something really special about this photo and decided to take a look.

"What do you have there, Virox?" I moved to his right side and finally got a good look on the photo he was holding. It was showing seven Carvins together with some really weird weapons, completely different from what they use now. They were either standing or sitting next to eachother in front of an equally strange vehicle. It looked a bit like a tank. What I noticed though was the fact that they had normal green limbs. Their arms were surrounded by a bony armor on shoulders, elbows and around the hands. Their legs were muscular and a bit bird-like. The feet were muscular and had three talons facing forward. They didn't have a fourth talon on the back of their feet for balance, but there was no need as their posture was strongly facing forward and their tail was making a perfect balance.

But what was most interesting was the fact that the picture of them just completely shocked Virox and he doesn't shut up easily.

"They were... friends..." he finally replied though his voice was weak. I never saw him in such state. He seemed like a guy who doesn't know what saddness is as he was always happy and cheerful, ready to lighten up the mood with some of his bad jokes. This wasn't the side of Virox I knew.

"Were?" I asked and immediately regretted it.

"The others... died." Virox started to gain control again and smirked. " And I cannot consider High General Seviros a friend for me now, can I?"

"No..." I anwsered curiously as he pointed a tall Carvin with a serious expression and multiple scars on the body. "And he was your friend before?"

"Rather a friend of the family." he explained and pointed on the tall Carvin with an officer cap, similar to those of human officers. "When my parents died during the Great Grox War he was the first to offer me a place in what was left of Carvin Army. Though in the military I discovered his worse side."

"And what was that?"

"He was strict as hell." he chuckled and looked at the photo again. "For me he was extra strict... But now maybe it is for good. I survived until now and I'm still kind of normal. I cannot deny that he taught me how to survive." then he paused for a moment. "Though I must admit that Seviros could and still can kick some serious ass."

"So like a crazy, super strict, headbutting uncle." I summed up the descryption and Virox looked at me surprised.

"I agree with everything except headbutting. Mostly because we cannot headbutt, and if we could, it wouldn't be as effective." he replied. "Instead we can bite your face off if you are satisfied with such anwser."

I must have had a seriously shocked face expression because he started laughing shortly after his last words. But I wasn't paying attention to him; rather to what he said. In fact their jaws were indeed capable of bitting the enemy's head off. Fortunately they didn't have the taste receptors on these jaws. It still sounded creepy though.

"So you've been in the same squad?" I asked as they had to be connected somehow to appear on this photo together.

"Yep. Except Seviros of course. Our team was named the Rathnaak. The simplified meaning for you can be: the Protector." Virox replied with a tiny bit of satisfaction in his voice. "We were usually assigned to any kind of rescue mission or for defending certain outposts. Crappy job, but we were giving hell to the Grox."

"OK, and who are the others on the photo?" I asked while looking back on the picture.

"Alright, this one..." he pointed on a really tall Carvin sitting on the ground and holding something that looked like an... ear? "Grasen Zi'Kiin if I remember correctly. He was very easy to piss off. Couldn't blame him though, he was a brute."

"Mhm, and the thing he is holding..." I couldn't resist asking for an unknown reason, because it was already disgusting. "Is it-"

"Yes, it is a Grox ear." Virox interrupted me. "He had a strange habit of collecting them, to remember each fight he fought alongside us. We liked him, but there were no jokes about him when he was around. We learned that the hard way."

"OK, then how about this one?" I changed the topic, while pointing at the one sitting on this weird tank with a pistol in hand. "Who's that?"

"Zen. Zen Fi'Huun." he anwsered. "Good old buddy of mine. We knew eachother even before the war. His parents were killed as well and we both joined the army. Damn good technician he was."

"Really?" I got intrigued as I never saw any Carvin combat engineers in action.

"Yeah. He reprogramed that tank we're standing in front of. Once he turned off the power on the entire Grox cruiser using only a wrench." he chuckled as I looked at him with disbelief. "He was claiming that every ship has its own 'weak point' where you can turn everything off."

"And where do you think this 'weak point' could be on the Normandy?" I asked with a little bit of fear.

"Dunno, but I think that it might be somewhere near the AI core, as EDI controls the entire ship." he anwsered. "But who am I to know that?"

"Yeah yeah." I rolled my eyes and turned back to the photo. "How about these two Carvins."

"Gri'Zaan twins. Shaan and Thaan" Virox replied and chuckled a bit after that. "Oh, we had a lot of fun with them."

"What kind of 'fun'?" I expected it to be a violation of about 20 Citadel rules or something similar.

"You want to hear the most terrifying thing, or most disgusting thing?" he asked me with an evil grin on his face. "You can't choose both."

I thought about it for a while. It was not easy to scare me, but Carvins, including Virox himself, did that a lot more times than I expected. On the other hand I didn't feel like throwing up at the main battery floor. Scary or disgusting?

"I choose the disgusting thing." I made my decision and immediately felt that I regret it. And my feelings were correct.

"OK, it was like in the middle of the war when we finally managed to take out a few Grox officers." he started, while still having that evil grin on his face. "Our commanders told us that we don't need the corpses so we left it. At least that's what we thought we did."

"Let me guess." I interrupted. "They took the corpses."

"Not only that, but also did a race of who will eat more of it." Virox finished and I immediately felt something cracking in my stomach. "After a while they started to argue that one is thinner than another and finally agreed on a tie." he looked at me and started giggling, while desperately trying to hide it. "Y-you should see yourself in the mirror now! I-It's priceless..."

I must have looked really disgusted as he had problems with standing now. I didn't know if I wanted to know anything more about Virox's dead friends. Although this conversation seemed to cheer him up and that was my original intention after all. And I learned some weird habits about the Carvins as well.

"Do I even wanna know who was the last guy?" I asked in a tone that sounded like a mix of fear, disgust and disappointment.

"You mean Quanz? Quanz Ur'Shaan?" he anwsered my question with a question. "He was actually the least crazy of all six of us. I'm not counting General Seviros."

"Thank the spirits he was." I sighed with relief. "And who was he in your group?"

"Our only long-ranged link to other forces." Virox started explaining and I didn't know what he meant at all. "We were running dry on long-ranged comms so the limit was one per squad. Quanz was always carrying this huuuge backpack with a long antena. It was a sacred object for all of us. Contact was the most important thing these days. We also treated him as an unofficial leader of our squad."

I nodded silently and started putting together everything he told me about this Great Grox War. After a while I realized how horrible this time was for them. Now I was really surprised that Virox managed to keep his sanity. Such experience would traumatize most of the people I know.

"Hey Garrus." Virox pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at him and noticed a melancholic expression on his face. "I never actually told anyone about them. Other Carvins either knew about everything that happened or never wanted to find out." he stopped for a moment and looked back at me. "Thanks... I needed to spit it out."

"No problem." I replied and wanted to make sure of one more thing. "And did all of them..." but seeing his face I hesitated. "I mean you don't need to talk about it."

"It's OK. I can tell you everything I remember." he anwsered and suddenly started to stare at the wall. "We were holding position on the line of trenches long for 27 killometers. Making sure that the Grox won't reach the Capital of Carvistorn: Tralavaan...

 **FLASBACK**

 **Defenses 12 km from Tralavaan, Virox's POV**

I was sitting in the third line of trenches which had a little highground over the previous ones; big enough for us to see the hordes of Dronox marching towards us. They were the Grox cannon fodder, but I could see and smell the fear from the others. It was clear that some of us will not be going back.

Our trenches were high, but also connected with eachother. Our strategy was to hold the first position, codename Maze 1, as long as possible and then pull back to force the Grox forces to take their fight where their numbers would loose effectiveness. Each of the Mazes from 1 to 4 were indeed built like a maze to split and stretch the enemy forces.

Although even from here I could see Grox tanks and walkers. They could deal with our infantry in no time. Our remaining anti-vehicle force consisted of a few dozen tanks, a bunch of stolen Grox Grumblers, rocket and plasma launchers and a few mortars, which were rather used to deal with the infantry. I was afraid that it wouldn't be enough.

"Hey, Vi." I felt a poke in the right arm and noticed Quanz facing me while leaning on the sandbags of our trench. "Are you alright?"

"Are you kidding?" I chuckled, trying to hide my true mood. "I feel like I could kill them all by myself."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that and maybe the Grox will surrender and leave." he said sarcastically as I could never hide my true thoughts from him. Then he looked at me in all seriousness. His eyes were confident and he put his hand on my shoulder. "We're going to get through this. After this ends, I'm buying drinks to all six of us."

I nodded silently and immediately felt better. Quanz could always keep morale up, even in the situations like this one. He knew that being the least crazy from our six soldier squad wasn't a good thing, as we didn't like him that much. But we learned to tolerate him and right now, in these trenches, I'd call him a friend. Our squad was separated and I ended up with him. Gri'Zaan twins were in the other group, while Grasen and Zen were on their own due to their strategic roles on the battlefield. One was an engineer and the other was a Brute after all.

The Grox hordes were still heading towards us and their march was echoing in our heads, giving some of us chills. I still couldn't understand why the Grox decided on such assault. The most logical conclusion was: to get us all in one place and then destroy our forces completely. That wasn't positive thinking in any way.

I inspected my gun, probably for the last time. It was a stolen Grox assault rifle and was made of dark grey, shiny metal. It's grip was obviously designed for the three-fingered creatures, but I didn't care as long as it kept firing and killing its makers. On the front two crescent-shaped energy rails were forming talons that could fire two bolts of energy with each pull of the trigger. The rifle was long and also had a metal armor that was reaching almost to my elbow. That proved to be useful as a shield from enemy fire. What was the most useful in this weapon though was the fact that it didn't require ammo. The Grox assault rifles were energy-based which meant that I could keep firing this gun all day and the only thing that limited me was overheating. We didn't know for sure if these weapons needed any recharge, but it didn't matter as long as it was useful.

All Labyrinth positions consisted of three lines of trenches and a line of bunkers with heavy machine guns on the third line. But even with that kind of defense I was now thinking of what will come after this. What will happen with me if I die. Although now it wasn't the time for such thoughts. Now it was time to kill some damn Grox. We were just waiting for the order to fire.

"Soldiers of the Carvistorn! This is General Seviros." all of us flinched as this message was being transmitted to our comms directly. It was the last speech before the fight. "We have suffered a lot. And we suffer more for sure." then he stopped for a moment. I knew he did that a lot during his speeches. "But don't let this stop you! We have endured for so long! Don't let the Grox take away what you care for!" another stop. No one would admit it out loud, but we knew that the General was afraid just like us. "They shall know the wrath of the Carvins! Send them back to whatever black hole they crawled out of!" then third and last stop, just like I remembered he was doing. "Death and glory."

"DEATH AND GLORY!" the whole trenches roared and held their weapons in the air.

Then we started firing. An unstoppable wave of bullets, plasma and energy fell down on the Grox forces, decimating dozens of soldiers each second. Even Insectorox couldn't stand such barrage. The only thing that was still moving forward was the tanks. They were resisting our conventional weapons, but even now I could see white smoke left by our rockets. They were doing a quick job on the tanks by either immobilizing them or destroying them completely.

Although I could see that this barrage was not enough. The Grox forces were still moving forward, completely not caring about losses in their ranks. They were soon going to reach, the distance that could allow them to fire back effectively.

And they did.

Their army reached the point where the real fight began.

Immediately a bolt of energy missed my head by a few inches. I hid my head from the fire for about two seconds and then peaked out again to keep firing. The Grox tanks also joined the battle, causing explosions all over the trenches. Just like we were slaughtering the Grox just a few moments ago, the tide has turned and we were the ones to be slaughtered. Fortunately me and my squad were in the third line of defense.

But that wasn't helping as I could see the other Carvins being slaughtered on the front. They were hiding from enemy fire desperately and holding their weapons close to their chests.

I felt hatred flowing through my veins as it was obvious that we will be obliterated if this continues. Although even that was not enough. As I kept firing, something else emerged from the horde of Grox army. Many little creatures of the same colors as Dronox. They ran towards our trenches. I looked closer through my scope to see what are these...-

"MITES!" someone screamed in fear and suddenly the whole first line of trenches has been anihilated by a series of explosions. I shivered from fear as I saw multiple Carvins completely decapitated. Their corpses were lying in front of me and the Grox were still advancing, no matter what we did.

"The Maze 1 is lost! I repeat: the Maze 1 is lost! All survivors from Maze 1 retreat!" General Sevirox shouted through the comms. I was still recovering from shock when suddenly something jumped on me and knocked me off balance. That was enough to bring be back to my senses.

That was enough to bring be back to my senses. I quickly grabbed my Grox rifle and turned around to see a Mite in front of me. It was about to jump on me so I didn't even aim and filled its gut with energy bolts. It fell on the ground about 3 meters away from me. I didn't wait for it to explode and quickly ran through the trenches towards the Maze 2. Unfortunately Quanz and I got separated. As I was passing the bunker, I felt a few strong hits to my back. Immediately my HUD sparked a little then displayed the remaining strength of my shields.

"37%?" I was literally scared for my life now and quickly took cover behind the bunker's walls to catch my breath. After a moment I peaked out of cover to check for any escaping Carvins. And my hopes turned out to be accurate. 3 seconds later, about 5 soldiers appeared, seemingly running away from something and constantly shooting behind themselves. I looked through my scope trying to see what has terrified them so much. I didn't need to wait long.

Right on their heels, roughly 10 Dronox and 1 Insectorox were chasing them. I instantly opened fire, but focusing on the Dronox first. As the wounded Carvins passed me next to the bunker, I managed to take out all Dronox troopers. Now the only threat left was the Insectorox. I switched to my fully automatic fire mode and started shooting at the creature. It didn't even flinch and was slowly approaching me. I was holding the trigger for about 10 seconds without any effect.

"Come on!" I kept firing when suddenly a great heat burned my hands. It was my Grox rifle. I instantly dropped it and looked at my hands to see them almost completely fried. And this was my mistake.

As I was examining my hands, the Insectorox quickly closed the distance between us and sliced my chest with its sharp arm, knocking me back as a result. I tried to crawl away, but with the fried hands it was slow and painful. Too slow. Insectorox stabbed my right leg with its sharp arm, pinning me down. I never felt greater pain in my life. Now the death was knocking on the door, but I wasn't going to open it. Not without a fight at least.

Insectorox pulled out its blade-ish arm out of my leg, letting me to turn on my back and look at it face to face. It lifted the arm to the air, preparing do deal the final blow. I wasn't any worse and positioned my hands in a way to block the upcoming strike. My eyes closed by themselves, waiting for the inevitable end of my short life.

But it never came.

An earpiercing shriek immediately brought me back to my senses and I noticed the Insectorox slowly backing away while under heavy fire. I looked behind me to see the Carvins I helped to escape and a few others. Two of them quickly approached me. They had painted armor in the exact same way, which reminded me of their identity.

"Thaan...? Shaan...?" I let out as they lifted me by my arms. "What are you... doing here?"

"Saving your ass, that's what." they said in perfect unison, while dragging me away. One of them, I couldn't tell which, grabbed my rifle and joined his brother again. With the corner of my eye I saw a glimpse of Grox hordes filling the Maze 1 and felt glad that they were taking me from there. "We'll get ya patched up in no time. Just need to find a medic."

We were passing multiple Carvin soldiers. Many of them were covered in blue blood or sometimes even without certain parts of the body. I noticed one poor guy who lost his right arm and two legs, yet somehow the medics managed to stop the bleeding from the missing limbs and he was now sitting in the trench, shooting from behind cover from time to time.

After about 30 seconds we reached the small first aid rally point. There were not many wounded soldiers, but if there were, they were seriously injured. I saw two guys with completely fried chests and one that seemingly took a Mite to the face as he was missing two out of three jaws. It made me feel sick, but on the other hand the smell of blood and flesh was keeping me awake for some reason.

Finally one of the medics approached us after Thaan and Shaan put me on the ground.

"What is it?" he simply asked and not even waited for an anwser he examined my head, chest and finally hands. "Got your gun overheated, eh? Take this. It'll help." with that said he put some sort of ointment on my hands that began to ease the pain right away. "When you think you can manage, take these gloves just in case." then he moved to my leg. "And you got stabbed by one of these freaks too? I'll inject something that will numb the pain completely after some time, but try not to overwork that leg, would you?"

I nodded my head weakly and waited for the thing he gave me to completely ease my pain.

While I was waiting, everything started to move in slow motion. I could see everything around me, with all of the details, but hear nothing. On my left a bunch of soldiers was leaning on the side of the trench and laying constant barrage of bullets on the Grox. Suddenly one of the soldiers gasped in shock as one energy bolt hit his helmet, but missed his head by inches. As he was recovering from shock, he didn't realize that his head was sticking out of cover. Two seconds later he fell on the ground dead with his head smoking from energy bolts.

On my right I could see two enraged Brutes and a few normal enraged soldiers fighting a group of Insectorox. The rage was making it possible to have at least an even fight with these beasts. One of the enraged soldiers got stabbed in the chest and the spike was sticking out of his back. He didn't seem to mind as he bit off the Insectorox's arm 1 second later, not even pulling out the spike out of his chest. The Brutes in the meantime were gutting the fallen Insectorox, just in case it was still alive somehow. Then they returned to slaughtering the normal Dronox who didn't stand a chance against them.

In front of me I saw our normal foot soldiers regrouping to defend the Maze 2. They were afraid. I could see that and couldn't deny that I was afraid too.

My head was getting heavier and heavier. I closed my eyes and slowly began to loose conciousness, but then a muffled voice started shouting through my head. I opened my eyes again and noticed a familiar face of Quanz in front of me. He was shouting something, but I couldn't hear it. Then everything started to speed up. I took a deep breath as I could hear again.

"Virox!" Quanz shouted and shook me by the shoulders. I didn't have strength to respond so he finally slapped me in the face, quickly bringing me back. "Don't die on us!"

"It's alright." I anwsered after a few deep breaths. "I can... *cough* *cough* ...manage."

"Where is his gun?" he asked the Gri'Zaan twins.

"Here!" Thaan grabbed my Grox assault rifle then handed it to me. "Here. I believe it is yours."

"Thanks." I nodded and took the weapon after putting the protective gloves on. "Feels so much better with it."

Suddenly one of the Carvin soldiers joined our little group and collapsed from exhaustion. He was trying to catch his breath and I could smell a lot of adrenaline from him. He was most likely running away from something.

"We need to move now!" he let out between the breaths. "The tanks and walkers are closing in! We'll not hold-"

But then a plasma projectile hit the ground right below him and blew up him along with a few other soldiers. Then a Grox fighter flew above our heads, filling our hearts with paralyzing fear.

"Enemy aircraft incoming! MOVE!" the medic screamed and grabbed one of the wounded, while his friends grabbed the others. Then he started running towards the nearest bunker with us following him quickly. Where there was one Grox fighter there were certainly his friends as well.

As we were about to enter the bunker, I heard a too familiar sound of space engines. It would seem that I just called it.

"Please no..." I groaned and the building exploded.

We fell on the ground hard and got hit with a couple of stones. The medics quickly managed to get up and ran towards their wounded. They kneeled down and started talking to them, but I was stunned too much to understand anything. One of them was shaking the wounded soldier, seemingly trying to wake him up. Unfortunately he didn't get the reaction he wanted. Soldier was completely still.

Suddenly the medic looked at something in front of him and reached out for his weapon. Too late though as before he could even pull it out, a barrage of energy bolts hit him in the chest. I watched him collapsing and immediately reached for my rifle, even though the Grox troops were out of my sight. Other medics did the same and opened fire at something in front of them. The Dronox must have followed us the way we came here.

Everyone had spread out, trying to find any sort of cover from from the barrage. I strongly pressed my back to the side of the trench and pointed my gun towards the pathway which Grox forces were going to use. My hearts were beating fast, filling my bod with adrenaline as I waited for the hostiles to show up.

Finally about five Dronox revealed themselves and I pressed the trigger, taking out the first one. They obviously didn't expect such approach which let me take them all out before...

"Heck no!" I immediately stopped shooting as two Insectorox appeared. Fortunately they didn't notice me, but went for the others.

It was going to be our end unless...

"Make way!" a roar was heard from behind us. I turned around to see Grasen Zi'Kiin with the other Brutes. They didn't even care that everything around them was either in flames, blown up or was now blowing up. I immediately recognized Grasen by his disgusting necklace made of Grox ears. He looked at us in complete seriousness. "GO! We'll give you the time you need to escape!"

"But-" one of the medics wanted to argue.

"NO BUTS!" Grasen shouted and I could see him slowly enraging. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! NOW!"

As much as the logical part of my mind wanted to follow his orders, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't just leave him like that. My muscles were completely still and I was unable to move. Quanz seemed to notice this and he grabbed me by the arm, then pulled me with him towards the next position.

I was looking around, seeing soldiers being slaughtered. They were sacrificing themselves for us, no more nor less of soldiers, to live. We gave the Maze 2 to the Grox almost without any resistance. Their tanks were slowly advancing and shredding through our infantry with their machine guns. Their fighters were blowing up any kind of fortification, clearing the path for the infantry.

This was going to be our last stand.

In fact we didn't recieve an order to retreat to Maze 3. From now we were going to die holding the next positions. Dying in hundreads in the name of greater good. In the name of our species. I couldn't tell why such thoughts were coming to my head during this battle. We were on the verge of extinction after all.

And we couldn't let our kind to be exterminated.

Not by these cyborgs at least.

 **(20 minutes later)**

I fell on the ground wincing in pain as one of these damn Dronox managed to hit me in the shoulder. We were somehow still holding Maze 3 and I finally managed to see the end of the great horde that was still trying to destroy this line of defense. Most of the high ranked commanders died in multiple bombing runs, which left General Seviros alone dealing with the whole defense.

Under his command we were changing positions about four times in 20 minutes. We weren't staying in the same spot for longer than 5 minutes. Seviros was constantly swapping tired/disabled soldiers from Maze 3 and Maze 4, our last line of defense to provide maximum effectiveness. It seems that sometimes you just need one tough Son-of-a-bitch who will tell you what to do.

Although we were holding a lot better now, I couldn't get the image of Grasen out of my head... He was dead. I saw it. After killing the Insectorox, they encountered a Grox Grumbler. It easily blew them to pieces. I knew that I'm going to miss that crazy bastard no matter how screwed up he was in the head.

As I was using a small roll of bandage to cover my shoulder, Thaan and Shaan Gri'Zaan were cooperating for the first time since I've met them and I gotta say: I like them more that way. They acted like if they were understanding eachother without words, taking out enemies without a single time trying to shoot the same one. It was getting easier as the Grox got really pissed off and they began sending their troops both through trenches and outside them, making it easier to shoot at them.

One of these little bastards somehow managed to get through the barrage of bullets and energy, but I spotted him in time when he was preparing to jump at us by surprise. He wanted to jump into the trench, but I caught him by the throat in the mid-air. He started struggling and I threw him to the ground and used my tail to gut him quickly. Then I returned to laying constant fire at the Grox forces.

"Rathnaak squad, this is General Seviros." our comms suddenly turned off and the General's voice echoed in our ears. "The boys on the right could use a hand. They face a significant amount of Insectorox and Dronox commanders. Get there ASAP and provide support."

"Roger that, we're on our way!" Quanz quickly replied and waved at us. "Come on! We've got some asses to save now!"

"I'm sending you the navpoint of the weakened area." Seviros added and my HUD immediately glowed with a minimap of the Maze 3. "Good hunting. Seviros out."

"Alright guys!" we heard Quanz shouting. "Let's move!"

He was leading us through mutliple tight alleys, trying to find an easiest way to get to our objective. Once we even ran right behind a Grox Grumbler just before it was destroyed by two of our allied tanks. Not only we were on move. Trenches were literally looking like a living organism, constantly moving and changing. The wounded or dead were being immediately replaced by reinforcements. Our situation was looking a lot better than before.

Finally we managed to arrive at the set coordinates and immediately saw the how bad was situation there. They have encountered many heavy units that were literally slicing through our troops. Everywhere I looked there were decapitated bodies, torn off limbs and even heads. Alongside them I saw multiple bodies of Grox troops as well, which meant that our dead guys pulled a lot of these bastards with them to the grave.

Then I saw another familiar face. A face of a friend. He was holding a small computer and typing on it really fast. But when I came close, he stopped and stood up as I was slowly approaching him.

It was Zen Fi'Huun. My old friend.

"Virox!" he ran closer to me while still staying low to avoide exposure to enemy fire. "I am so glad to see you."

"That makes the two of us." I chuckled and grabbed his hand. "What's the sitrep?"

Zen's expression turned serious now. He brought me to that portable computer he was working on before and opened it again. It revealed a map of the whole line of defense, our troops and Grox forces. There was also our position as well.

"The Grox are getting more and more pissed off. They are gathering their forces for a few, but strong pushes in particular parts of our defense." he showed me the movement of the Grox forces and they were indeed forming wedges near our weakest zones of defense. And what was really troubling was the fact that one of these wedges was directly in front of us. "You see now? They're going to send a whole column of tanks at us."

"Well that's just frickin' bad." Gri'Zaan twins spoke in perfect unison and in perfectly identical sarcasm. Then they went serious again. "You've got any idea how to stop them?"

Zen nodded his head slightly and gave us all of his anti-infantry weapons. He only left a pistol for himself.

"I managed to copy the current access keys to the Grox network after we immobilized one of the tanks in Maze 2." he started explaining. "With that I think I can link up to their armored vehicles, take temporary control over them and overload their generators. But I need time to do that. And this is your role."

"You mean you're going to take control over their tanks?" I asked, still not beliving in his idea. "So why don't you just make them attack infantry?"

"Every part of Grox land equipement is automated. I could do that, but the Grox leaders would notice that." he anwsered and opened his computer. "We'll get just enough time to overload the tanks."

"How many of these things can you overload?" Quanz moved a little closer to be able to hear everything.

"I'll send as many of them to hell as I can." he adjusted his pistol in the holster and began to work on his computer. "Now please keep these bastards off my back, would you?"

"Alright, let's do it, people!" Quanz signaled to come after him. We joined a group of soldiers that were here for the same reason. They looked exhausted, which suggested that they were here for a long time, but that wasn't lowering their effectiveness in combat.

I leaned on the side of the trench and peaked out of cover. There were a lot of Grox soldiers incoming, mostly Dronox, but I could see some Mites and Insectorox as well. I started to shoot at the charging cannon fodded, killing at least three of them each second. But this time I was paying close attention to the heat level of my weapon. My HUD was displaying a minimap of the surroundings and now it was flickering with red dots which were clearly forming a wedge that was going to pierce our defenses.

The Grox weren't giving up and it was becoming harder and harder to keep them at bay. Every few seconds I heard a scream of pain from one of our soldiers. Every few seconds another soul was sent to whatever existed after death.

"Damn, these bastards won't let up!" Quanz shouted as he reloaded his conventional assault rifle.

"We need to hold on!" I shouted back after blowing the head of a random Dronox. "This is our only hope!"

But with each second passed, defending Zen changed into a desperate fight for survival. At some point the Grox troopers literally flooded our position. Everyone was separated, hiding under a pile of corpses or rubble, trying to stay alive AND kill some bad guys.

"Zen!" I screamed through all the noise of the battlefield. "ETA on these tanks!?"

"Almost there!" he shouted back.

'Well, that's fucking embarrassing.' I thought and blew the head of another enemy. 'If I'm gonna die because of him, I'll haunt him till the rest of his life.' But then my ears have caught something that sent a chill down my spine. A roar of tires. 'They are here!'

The tanks have arrived.

About 2 seconds later the ground right in front of me exploded, unleashing a cloud of smoke. Fortunately I was not caught in the blast, though multiple explosions were shaking the trenches and killing many of our soldiers with each blow.

"Keep firing! We need to hold on!" Quanz yelled as he was repeatedly peaking out of cover.

"These tanks will tear us to pieces!" Thaan screamed in panic. "I don't know if we can-"

But before he could finish, a very strong energy beam hit his chest and started to cut through his armor. I tried to react by finding the source of that beam. For nothing. After 2 seconds Thaan had a great hole in his chest. He was trying to breathe, but it didn't help and finally he collapsed on the ground dead.

"BROTHER! NO!" Shaan reached his hand towards Thaan, but he was also pinned down by the Dronox so he had to hide it. "You'll pay for this! I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU ALL!"

Even in the chaos of battle I noticed that his hands started to shake. He dropped his rifle and clenched his fists. I knew that this was enough pain and suffering for him. It was now going to come out as a rage... and a death sentence at the same time.

Shaan roared in fury and jumped out of cover to hunt for his prey. The first Dronox he saw quickly lost his head as it was torn off his torso. That caught attention of a few others, but each of their accurate shots was leading to more and more danger. Shaan ran towards them, then snapped the neck of the nearest enemy, grabbed the another and punched a hole in his head.

That caught attention of some more advanced Grox soldiers - two Dronox commanders and one Insectorox. The first two have quickly approached Shaan to engage him in melee combat with their shock blades.

"Oh, no you don't." whispered to myself and started shooting at them. They didn't seem to expect such approach and that was going to be their last mistake. Shaan punched one of the elite Dronox in the face stunning him easily. Then he grabbed his arm and used it to stab the other one. The blade penetrated the Dronox shield with ease. But the first guy started to recover from the stunn. I quickly aimed at his head and pulled the trigger three times. Two of the shots I fired hit their target dead on, making it collapse on the ground.

Shaan, still enraged, ran towards the Insectorox. He grabbed a sharp piece of scrap by the way and jumped at the beast. I tried to help him, though the enemy fire was too strong. I couldn't peak out and not having 95% chance of loosing my head.

As I attempted to at least fire blindly at the general direction of enemy troops, I noticed something big and metallic on tracks, moving dangerously close to Shaan, yet pointing its main gun at me. A Grox tank.

My body froze from fear and shock. This was the another time I was looking death in the eyes. My muscles were paralyzed and the only thing I could do was to watch if death decides to take me this time. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see that...

But instead of me exploding, I heard one sentence through the comms.

"Fire in the hole!"

This immediately brought me back to my senses. The tank started sparking and I jumped away, not even caring about the other Grox forces. Right after that the tank blew up along with dozens of others all over the battlefield. Series of explosions shook the ground as with each tank destroyed, all of the troops around it were following it to hell.

The whole trenches cheered as the whole Grox assault was instantly stopped and the Dronox were just standing still, not responding to anything.

"All soldiers! Push forward!" General Seviros said through the comms and immediately the tide has turned. We were now flooding the Grox who were attempting a futile counterattack. It would seem that the tanks were some sort of command units for the mechanic army. Without their signal, Dronox were in complete chaos.

I let out a sigh of relief and started looking for Shaan. He wasn't anywhere nearby so I hoped that he ran with the other soldiers. The first thing I did was inspecting the bodies and look for colorful armor he was wearing usually. One quick look at the armor would tell if it was him or not.

At one point I was about to stop searching and contact the command to track him down when suddenly I noticed a piece of painted armor. It was close to the wreckage of the tank that attempted to kill me.

"No..." I refused to admit that Shaan could be dead, yet I started to walk towards the piece of armor. It was torn off the rest and I began to search for the rest.

Yet as much as I wanted to tell myself that he must be alive, another part of me was saying the exact opposite. My hope was slowly fading away, even though I was saying to myself that Shaan would come out anytime soon and say something stupid. How hard I was trying to push away the true.

"No... No no no no no!" I suddenly noticed another piece of colorful armor, but this time with the body. That made me quickly run towards it. The corpse was almost completely black on the left side, probably from the explosion of the tank that wanted to kill me. After a quick examination I knew that it was him...

I lost all of my hope and collapsed on the ground. There was almost no one around so it was just me and the dead body of Shaan. This battle was too much for me. I couldn't go on after this. My hope was... broken.

Suddenly I felt something on my arm. I turned around to see Quanz and Zen beside me. They weren't looking any better, but they at least could hide it. Sometimes I really wished to not be the youngest of our team...

"We will all miss him." Quanz told me. "He, his brother and Grasen will not be forgotten."

"Rathnaak team, this is General Seviros." the sad moment was interrupted by the voice in our comms. "Report to the command center in the Maze 4."

"Roger that." Quanz anwsered and then kneeled down next to me. "C'mon Vi. Nothing we can do for him now."

I nodded weakly and with some help of Zen, who was completely silent, I stood up, heading towards the command center. We were walking quietly, watching as most of the soldiers passing us were heading towards the fight. Only a few guys were going in the same direction as us. Mostly wounded and other squads that were either really tired and couldn't run with the rest, or lonely soldiers looking broken just like me.

After a few minutes we managed to get to the command center. It was in a really bad shape. Not many soldiers were around. Just a bunch of guards and tired guys. We slowly walked inside to see General Seviros leaning on the holo-table with some low-rank officers around him. The other high-ranked were probably killed and Seviros seemed to be the only one to survive. Apart from them the room was filled with field medics and the wounded they were treating at the moment.

"Soldiers..." Seviros spoke, bringing our attention back to him. "I have to give you my congratulations for the well done job. We are in offensive now, but I think you've done enough for now." then suddenly he started to look at each and every one of us, seemingly looking for something. Or someone. I tried my best not to break down in front of everyone, but he understood immediately. "This must be a great loss for you. Another reason to get some rest." his gaze was fixed on all of us. "Dismissed."

As we turned around towards the exit to leave, all of the alarms suddenly went off. Everyone immediately jumped in surprise and started running around, trying to find the reason of this alarm. I turned back towards General Seviros and noticed him looking at the holo-table in all seriousness. A red dot appeared about half meter above the ground and was slowly heading towards our defenses.

"Sir, they finally decided on an orbital strike!" one of the officers reported. "What do we do?"

"Something is not right here." Seviros stated and began analysing the situation. "That bomb they are launching is clearly going to miss both our soldiers HERE and those who are counterattacking."

"So it needs to have explosion radius big enough to kill US and THEM." the officer concluded.

"Uh General?" I suddenly heard the voice behind me and saw Zen already with his computer turned on. "I managed to get a scan of this bomb."

"How did you managed to do that?" everyone in the room asked in perfect unison and I grinned, knowing the fact that Zen was a genious with electronics and hacking.

"Don't even ask. The Grox kicked me out right after I scanned this rocket." he anwsered, not even trying to hide the pride in his voice. Though it didn't last very long and he turned serious again. "General... This is an anti-matter bomb. It will obliterate everything in the area."

The whole room became silent. All officers and soldiers were now looking at Zen and Seviros. Their eyes were either full of fear or just emotionless, like if they already accepted their fate.

"Sir? What do we do now?" one of them asked.

Seviros had a thoughtful expression. I was thinking about it as well. All of the soldiers on the front were thinking that we are winning, but the Grox must have lost their patience. We could either escape and live to fight another day, but leave millions of soldiers to death, or stay here and die with them. It seemed like a simple choice, but none of us wanted to abandon our brothers in arms.

"We are leaving now." Seviros finally declared. "Everyone, get to the vehicles!"

"Sir, permission to stay here." Zen suddenly asked., which made my heart stop.

"For what purpose?" General asked back.

"I can slow down the engines of the bomb, or change its trajectory in a way that would give you some time." he replied and already opened his computer.

"Granted." Seviros nodded his head and I felt like my whole world is collapsing. I lived through the losses of my other squadmates, but Zen was my best friend. I couldn't lose him too.

He walked towards me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Vi. Don't worry about me." he said and smiled weakly. "Besides, we're all gonna meet after death, sooner or later."

I gulped nervously and looked deep in his eyes.

"Be careful." were my last words to him and then I followed others.

Everyone who wasn't participating in the counterattack was now running towards many transport vehicles that we left behind the Maze 4. I was seeing pure fear on the faces of soldiers. What was troubling though was the fact that not all of us got here with the vehicles. And not all of us were going to fit in.

Finally we reached the vehicles. There was all sorts of stuff, from civilian cars to professional military trucks. No one was wasting time and immediately started to get in. Many soldiers were also holding the sides to catch the ride as well. I managed to get inside an old-fashioned jeep, but Quanz, who was right behind me, couldn't fit in and needed to hold the left side of the vehicle.

Shortly after I heard the roar of the engine and we were on the move. I looked behind me one last time, thinking of all these soldiers, unaware of the doom that was awaiting for them. But then a yellow dot appeared on the sky, getting closer and closer to the ground. It was leaving a yellow trace and with each second reducing its distance to the ground.

"Go faster!" someone screamed in panic, but it wasn't that easy and that jeep couldn't be called a demon of speed.

And then I saw a bright flash behind us. The ground started shaking violently and I had troubles with staying inside the vehicle. Unfortunately not only I had that problem.

"SHIT!" I suddenly heard Quanz and saw him at the back of the jeep, holding to one of the metal bars tightly. The rest of his body wasn't even touching the vehicle and was slowly pulling him back. "Virox! Help me!"

I quickly grabbed his hand and started pulling. My muscles were burning from exhaustion after all of this, but I was telling myself I won't let him go.

"HOLD ON!" someone from the front shouted as we driven off a small cliff. I tried my best to stay steady, but as the jeep touched the ground, the strength of the impact threw me backwards.

My lower jaw hit the metallic parts of the vehicle, stunning me for a moment.

"Ahh!" I started to regain balance, and felt blood on my face. But as I was getting back to normal, I saw my right hand empty and realized what happened. "NO!"

I quickly looked behind the jeep and saw Quanz lying on the ground far behind us. He wasn't moving, but even if he was, it wouldn't matter. The ground was shaking more violently now and the wave of fire was getting closer.

After a moment we were far away and I was still looking at the same spot. I turned away only when the radiation from the explosion was so strong that it was burning my eyes.

My mind was filled with only one thought now: I lost my last brother... and he won't be coming back.

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

 **Normandy Sr-2, Virox's POV**

"Wow..." Garrus said as I finished the story. "I... I can't even imagine how it felt."

"After that day I knew that I won't be the same anymore." I sighed and looked him deeply in the eyes, trying to find someone who would know how it feels. "That's why I am so reckless. That's why I'm charging into fight first." he began to understand so I continued. "I just cannot afford... to be responsible for more deaths."

Garrus nodded slowly as he was processing what I just said. I on the other hand felt a great relief that I could finally tell someone everything. Other Carvin soldiers either were there or just didn't want to talk about it. Now I got it off my chest.

"How many of you survived the battle?" he finally asked.

"From 65 million soldiers? About two hundread." I said slowly. "Some people say that they hear the whispers of the dead when they visit the Graveyard of the Freedom Fighters."

"Creepy." Garrus admitted and then his face turned relaxed again. "So, now we're facing the Collectors, we will try to destroy their base and probably get killed in the process. How do you think about such way to go?"

"Heh, as long as I get to ride a Praetorian again, of course." I chuckled and suddenly smelled something. It was behind the door. Male human and female asari and they were heading towards us. "Hey, check this out. Shepard is going to open the door in 3... 2... 1... Now."

Just as I said it, the door was opened and Shepard came in. But only Shepard.

" _The heck?_ " I was surprised to see only him here. " _Where is this Liara?_ "

"Hey, how's it going?" Shepard asked and noticed the box of weapons next to us. "Seems that Virox already unpacked his Christmas presents."

"Yeah, I wish that Turian Hierarchy would send me some cool stuff." Garrus sighed and then turned towards me. "Lucky bastard."

"Shepard?" I finally decided to find out about that smell not making any sense. "Where is this Liara?"

"She left about half an hour before you woke up." he anwsered while having a bit confused expression. "Why are you asking?"

"You were with her in your cabin, weren't you?" I completely ignored the question.

"Yes...?" now Shepard was really suspicious.

"Oh." I finally realized. "That explains her smell all over you."

Now a very uncomfortable silence filled the room. Both Garrus and Shepard were staring at me with a mix of confusion, disgust and surprise.

"OK, this is awkward." turian finally said as he took a step back.

"..." Shepard was now completely red. "I... I should go."

Then he was gone.

" _I hate beling so bloody unique..._ " I thought and saw Garrus going back to his calibrations.

After a while my wrist computer beeped quietly, letting me know that I have a new notification from our Carvin Intelligence Network. I opened the notification to see a big title saying: THE BUILDING PROCESS OF CARVIN ARK THAASIN IS COMPLETED IN 5%. THAT IS BY FAR THE MOST EFFECTIVE BUILDING PROCESS IN THE HISTORY OF CARVIN NAVY. Then there was some stuff about 80% of our work force being assigned to that project etc.

I smirked on that. Other species have joined the project waaay before us. We have our ship getting closer to being finished. Maybe it will even departure before the Reapers invade. Otherwise our history would be lost forever. And we will not find the Grox to repay them for all the pain they gave us as we promised...

As all of the survivors promised...

 **A/N: Whew! It's done! This chapter was really tough for me to write, but I'm happy with the result. Maybe the ending part of the flashback wasn't that good, but the rest isn't bad. Although you will judge this as well. Again I'm so sorry for the long waiting time. Next chapter shouldn't take more than a month to write... I think.**


	13. Meet Legion and Collector Attack

**A/N: Hey guys, Bonker here and I know that it took me more than it should to write this chapter. Fortunately I'm after my exams so I HOPE there will be no big problems with uploading new chapters. Also I am extremely happy with the amount of views that my story gets. I didn't even think that it would gain so big popularity in such a short amount of time. I really try to update as often as I can, but learning from my previous experiences with both this and my other stories, I don't want to give you unfinished or badly written chapters as it would make both you and me unhappy with the result.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Guest: Very good chapter and the story about grox carvin war was nicely whriten i am aweiting thr arc to be completed and andromeda chapter to come to the story**

 **I know that you are all excited to see the role of the Carvins in the events of ME: Andromeda. Although now I want to focus on the ME2 and 3, I will be giving some information about their involvement in the last phases of preparation for the great trip to Andromeda.**

 **Shadowhorror: The whole war was very well whriten and the scene where our main character angered Shepard about his relationship was very nice :D i hope to see more of the chapers soon and the continuity in andromeda the carvin empire to get new start and conquer Andromeda and so more possibilities :D**

 **Wow, you already want them to conquer Andromeda? You should've told me sooner and I would have made a great war between the Citadel races and the Carvin Empire. And speaking of which, I have an idea for a chapter that would show the current political status of the Carvins in the galactic community, but also compare their millitary to the ones of Citadel races.**

 **Also I recently discovered that the kinetic barriers of the Citadel races is designed to protect the ship from physical ammunition, but not from energy-based weaponry. Meanwhile, according to the lore of Spore, shields of the ships could stop BOTH energy-based weapons and physical ammunition (like rockets and such). So this would mean that the whole Citadel Fleet should be obliterated by know and Carvins could rule the galaxy from there! XD just kidding. Nontherless you are lucky this time Citadel Fleet, but it won't happen again. You fuck up - you die.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **(Events of this chapter occur about five days after the previous one)**

 **Citadel, Carvin embassy, No-one's POV**

It was the same old bullshit that Zayan Te'Kraan, Carvin ambassador needed to go through everyday. At least since he exposed the footage of turian and salarian councilor having fun in Purgatory (as they called that bar), things were a little easier for him. Now his best shot was to establish more peaceful and friendly relations with the minor Citadel races. While the Carvins and asari didn't hate eachother with passion and humans actually turned out to be nice, Zayan knew that if he got the support of smaller races, they would gain a few trade partners and possibly even allies. Turians and Salarians were out of commission as they were the ones to suffer the most from the Carvins. Zayan didn't even felt pity on them. They started it and now they were paying for it.

He managed to make a nice deal with the Hanar. The Carvin Navy would begin the joined military excercises with their space forces in exchange for increased access to their market for Carvin traders. Now the Carvin economy looked a bit better on the galaxy arena.

The Elcor were also pretty happy to cooperate. A non-aggression pact signed on Dekuuna improved the relations greatly and the new trade route between the races was now benefiting both. Carvins were supplying the Elcor with advanced electronic devices to help the civilians and millitary in their everyday tasks, since the physiology of the latter greately decrease their physical potential. In exchange, the Elcor were shipping small amounts of already refined eezo and other materials needed for constructing starships and land equipement of the Carvin Millitary.

Only Volus were the problem. Being a client race to the Turians made any attempts of trade or military exchange fruitless. Despite their love for trading, Volus were rather terrified by the apperance of the Carvins, who could match their Turian protectors or any Citadel race in any millitary department. That resulted in Volus joining the efforts with Citadel to reduce the power of Carvin Empire with any means neccessary, from sanctions to millitary treaties. Zayan knew that, but decided not to pay attention on this cowardly bunch of walking balls. They couldn't even withstand a single punch from a civilian-grade cybernetic arm and that was something.

But now Zayan had bigger concerns - the mysterious species that attacked their colony on Qreten, so called Collectors. Despite the fact that High General Seviros personally went to talk about the attack with the Council and even showed them the corpse that suddenly started talking, they still dismissed the claims.

'What the hell are we supposed to do for them to not dismiss our claims?' Zayan thought with annoyance. 'Should we throw the damn corpse at their faces? Leave the remainings of the Collector ships on their very own lawns?'

He knew that telling them about this threat was pointless, but he still kept trying. All of the species' stake was at risk now.

Citadel races were doing everything they could to delay the final approval for the Carvins to join the Council, which was infuriating not only for him, but for the whole High General Council. They were getting impatient and started ordering him to push harder and harder, but that seemed to only make things worst. The Council would accuse him and the whole Carvin Empire of being too aggressive in their expansion.

Suddenly he heard beeping on his left wrist computer and that pulled him out of his thoughts.

"What this time?" Zayan asked emotionessly as there was probably another incident in which Carvins were involved. He acted like a bloody babysitter to a whole Citadel now, keeping his people and them from jumping to eachother's throats. "Alright, I'm on it. Just stall them for a while till I arrive."

This was going to be another busy day for him.

 **Meanwhile on the Normandy, Legion's POV (A/N: It's the first time for me to write Legion, so let me know what do you think)**

Behaviour of the organics was surprising us all the time. They were driven by emotions, not by logic that could help them solve problems they were struggling with. But Shepard-Commander was different. Open-minded. An exeptional leader capable of making decisions that would not be made by an ordinary representative of any species of the Citadel. That's why the Consensus agreed on contacting him.

Shepard-Commander was also very... durable. Consensus didn't took into consideration him being still active after the destruction of the SSV Normandy. Even if it was to be resurrected by the pro-human organization Cerberus.

Other members of the new Normandy crew were approaching this platform with a bit of distance... except one. A member of the newly discovered species which happen to possess a very unique technology, completely different and independent from the mass effect technology. The Consensus was watching them since they appeared in the galactic community and the reasons how and why this race remained undetected for any scanners is unknow.

The interaction with this particular member of the Normandy crew were... unusual. His reactions do not match any templates of organic behaviour collected by the geth.

A notable fact: Carvin, designation - Virox Ri'Kaan, had arranged 3 meetings between creator Tali'Zorah and this platform. He describes his motives in two particular sentences only: "If you two will keep hating eachother with passion till the Reapers arrive, we will have a serious problem, and I want to change that. Also both of you have COMPLETELY different point of view, mostly involving blaming the other side for everything, so I want to hear both opinions." Precise motive is unknown. Possibility of an attempt to improve Quarian-Geth relations is 37%. Possibility of it to be for entertaining purposes is 21%. Based on the data gathered on his species and the subject itself.

Creator Zorah seemed very uneasy during the said meetings. Hostility was inevitable as the Consensus predicted, although creator Zorah agreed to cease it for the educational purposes for the member of the Carvin race, who proved to be exceptionally eager to gain knowledge about the Quarian-Geth conflict, as he didn't possess it during his relatively short presence in the galactic community. The reason of such behaviour remains unknown.

Carvin, designation - Virox Ri'Kaan, also began to interact with this mobile platform without the presence of creator Zorah. His questions most commonly refered to the current status of the Geth Consensus and the way it functions.

Despite the severe injury and loosing the whole left arm, Virox Ri'Kaan volounteered to assist us and Shepard-Commander in assault on the Heretic Station. He was extremely effective with his pistol that due to the energy-based weapon system was even more effective against heretic mobile platforms.

 **(FLASHBACK)**

 **Heretic Station, No-one's POV**

"Alright, we're taking out the Geth nodes." Shepard ordered. "Legion, Virox, go take some cover behind these crates. On my signal we're blowing these things up."

"Acknowledged." Legion replied simply and quickly took cover followed by Virox. "Ready to commence attack on heretic platforms."

"So am I." Carvin soldier added.

"Alright, on 3." Shepard carefully aimed at the device, trying to find any vulnerable parts. "One... two... THREE!"

Immediately both Geth data nodes exploded, sending the nearby platforms flying. Before their enemies could regain balance, their insides were either filled with either physical projectiles or fried by energy bolts.

They repeated this strategy every time they encountered geth linked to such data nodes, each time being successful.

"Despite the severe injury, your performance on the battlefield is higher than anticipated." Legion said after the fight was over.

"Thank you. I take that as a compliment." Virox anwsered in his usual cocky tone, which made Shepard roll his eyes. "But you haven't seen what I could do with BOTH hands and an assault rifle."

Legion didn't ask any questions about that and they proceeded to the next room, getting closer and closer to the core of the station. Virox surprisingly decided to be quiet during the discussion on the heretics spying on Geth. Seemed that he could always be quiet when you wouldn't expect him to be. Even when the squad finally reached the station's core and Shepard decided to reprogram the heretics he didn't say anything.

Of course when the fight for the room began his cocky mood immediately came back.

"Damn! That Geth got 'SHOCKED' after I shot its head off. Started sparking like hell." he chuckled after one of his kills.

"Virox stop it!" Garrus suddenly said through EDI's comms. "It's not even funny."

"This pun has an entertaining efficiency of 0.02% based on our studies of organic behaviour." Legion added.

"Oh piss off both of you." Virox seemingly insulted returned to fight. Still he got away with a few more stupid jokes before they got off the stationg though.

Shepard was not amused.

 **(FLASHBACK END)**

 **Normandy Sr-2, Legion's POV**

Organics were strange and unpredictable indeed, but in many cases that was giving them advantage. Many millitary scenarios performed by the Geth Consesnus during the war with the Creators turned out to be inaccurate due to their unpredictability.

Although the hostile reaction of Creator Zorah after our attempt to warn Geth Consensus about the possible attack was expected.

Fortunately Shepard-Commander added a new perspective which both sides lacked. We were surprised that we didn't take into consideration Reaper threat before. We needed to make autocorrections on that.

Hold on! Metallic footsteps detected by the door. 97.3% chance for appearance of Virox Ri'Kaan.

 **Virox's POV**

Legion was strange, but I liked that. At least someone as weird and sticking-out-of-the-crowd as me. We immediately got along, or so I think we did. When we talked for the first time it was rather suspicious as all organics were distrustful to the Geth before. I was new and didn't know a quarter of the stuff that was going on here before the Carvin Empire revealed itself so I wanted to know everything from different points of view.

Took a bit of effort to bring Tali and Legion to talk together, but when I promised Tali to give her my broken cybernetic arm for examination, she agreed. Funny how little you need to do to make a Quarian like her to do something. She was fascinated by that scrap arm. Took some time to steal it from Chakwas' desk unnoticed though.

After Shepard decided to reprogram the heretics, I decided to change my talk topics with Legion. Now we began discussing how idiotic and ignorant the Citadel Council was.

"I mean literally we brought a dead Collector on their lawn, which by the way started glowing and speaking during the meeting, and yet they still dismissed our claims!" I shared my frustration with Legion.

"Organics are driven by fear. They fear to accept the facts that might threaten them." Geth replied calmly. "Also sharing the fact about the Reapers with the public has 47% chance of causing a massive panic."

"Gee thanks. You really know how to be positive, Legion." I rolled my eyes, but wasn't angry at him.

"We were just stating facts. Our intent was not to offend." he was so innocent which made him so cute and that's a really rare thing for me to say about someone.

"Y know I haven't really told you that, but I think you deserve to know." a brilliant idea suddenly popped out in my head. I wanted to see Legion's reaction on that. "You know that you took my spot?"

"We do not understand. Please specify." he replied and the pannels on his head were raised as a sign of curiousity.

"When Shepard and his crew 'kidnapped' me, I was also put in the AI core, exactly in the same place, in the same position and behind the same shield. Also they electrocuted me with the same devices." I replied, impatiently waiting for response. "So yeah, you took my spot."

Legion looked... conflicted? Thoughtful? I couldn't say, but it seemed that he was studying me as well.

"We cannot determine if you are offended or is this an action serving entertaining purposes only. To little data on the behaviour of Carvins has been collected." he anwsered after a moment.

"Haha, calm down, I'm just fucking with you!" I chuckled, but given the Legion's expression I immediately corrected myself. "Oh, uh, but not... um... in... literally I mean."

"Acknowledged. Social experiment status - success." he anwsered which immediately caught my attention.

"Wait! You were performing a social experiment on me now?" I asked suspiciously.

"Precisely." Legion nodded his glowing head lightly.

"You cheeky bastard. I was doing the same thing to you." I frowned, though it probably didn't look like the in the other races.

"We were aware of that." he finished and I just gave up.

"Virox, Legion." EDI suddenly appeared on the terminal in the AI core. "Commander is taking the whole team for a mission so that we can check the influence of the Reaper IFF on the Normandy's systems. He asks you to report to the hangar bay immediately."

(A/N: It is not specified what mission is Shepard taking the whole team on, so I made this up. Apologies for any inconsistency.)

"Got it." I replied and along with Legion I left the AI core heading towards the elevator.

As we were walking through the medbay I was praying to whatever majestical force created the universe for Doctor Chakwas to not see me. How unfortunate that this force decided to fuck me over.

"Virox?" I heard the feminine voice behind me and swore in carvin language. "Where do you think you are going?"

"I... uh... am going... to the... um... hangar bay. Shepard asked all of us to report there." I tried to skip the fact that he was calling us for a mission.

"Shepard wants to take the squad for a mission, while we finish integrating the Reaper IFF to our systems." EDI added, which really made me want to flood her database with cute varren pictures.

"Thank you EDI. Your presence here is incredibly appreciated." I grumbled and Doctor Chakwas shook her head in disappointment.

"Oh Virox. I worked with a Krogan warlord before. The one that is the clan leader on Tuchanka. You met him by the way." she chuckled. "So if you thought that I would let you get away on a mission with that hand still damaged, then you have much to learn about us, human doctors. Or at least me."

"I knew that you wouldn't let me go, Doctor." I replied with annoyance as it was already decided that I won't be going on the mission. "That's why I really wanted you to not notice me. My chances to go on a mission were also completely ruined by a certain Artificial Intelligence of which name I won't say."

"I am right here." EDI obviously needed to notify us of her existence.

" _Surprising no one._ " I mumbled in Carvin language.

"Virox, I don't think the mercs we will be fighting would react well to your approach to 'unarmed' combat." Garrus added while passing by. "I mean 'disarming' them after they would see you would be easier than pulling a trigger."

"Ha ha. Laugh while you can, Garrus." I rolled my eyes as he was giggling like these little girls on extranet. "When I finally get that arm, your headshot highscore will die a horrible and painful death."

He didn't stay here for long and went for the elevator, still having that grin on his face. I decided to get this over with and just walked to the main gunnery. If we were going to defeat the Collectors, we needed to have the state-of-the-art programing for our offensive and defensive systems.

It took me a long time to fully debug the whole room, but as now it was done, I confidently turned on my wrist computer and activated a special jammer that would prevent anyone (read - EDI) from eavesdropping our conversation. I also manually turned off EDI's terminal in the room, making sure that she won't interrupt us. Then I made a call to High General Council. They weren't going to like the fact that I wanted to share the Carvin tech with Cerberus, but I had to try at least.

I used my thoughts directly through the cybernetic arm to contact the

Waited...

Waited...

For a moment I thought they wouldn't respond, but then suddenly a hologram of all 8 current High Generals appeared on my wrist computer.

" _Specialist Virox Ri'Kaan_." They all said in perfect unison.

" _State the reason of this unexpected contact._ " High General Indrigan Zi'Loon asked coldly. " _And by the way, are all the security precautions fulfilled_?"

Indrigan was always cold. Strict. All of his soldiers admitted this. He was training them hard and accepting the best of the best. But he was no good tactician in space, only ground assault expert.

" _Anwsering your second, yes sir, I have took care of everything._ " I replied them in Carvin language as well. " _The jammer is on and I made sure that no one is in the room. As for the first question..._ " I hesitated for a while. " _I ask for access to our latest ship scanner jamming and targeting software. We are planning to hit on the Collectors pretty soon. We have acquired the Reaper IFF and are now trying to integrate it with the system. After that, we'll strike._ "

" _You want us..._ " another High General started. His name was Kraytt... something. He particularly didn't like Seviros and other survivors of the Great Grox War. " _...to give our latest technology to Cerberus? To that pro-human organization? As far as all of us know, they are considered terrorists._ "

" _I am aware of all of the following facts._ " I didn't give up. " _It's just the fact that I saw what happened on Qreten during the Collector attack. High General Seviros saw it-_ "

" _Oh don't get me started again!_ " Kraytt rolled his eyes as if he considered my connection to Seviros a greatest insult. Couldn't blame him though. Other High Generals didn't have such close relationships with their soldiers like Seviros. They considered it a weakness. " _We all know how close you and Seviros are! Every time you have trouble with proving something, you run to him like a spoiled child!_ "

" _Krayt..._ " the only female High General in the Council spoke. It was Tivennia Va'Xuun. " _With all due respect, shut the fuck up and let him speak._ "

All of the soldiers liked Tivennia. All of them were also terrified of her. She was strict and bloody ruthless, yet had a dry sense of humor. She was also formidable tactician in both land and space combat. The only female Carvin that I would consider attractive or 'hot'. Although every male soldier or officer that was trying to hit on her, ended up beaten up without a lot of teeth. And sometimes even cybernetic limbs ripped off. So yeah, I'd rather not go and 'hit on her' as some of our crewmembers would say.

" _All I am trying to say is that the Collectors are a lot more powerful than us. Everyone knows what happened on Qreten._ " I went back to my statement. " _We are planning to attack them so no more assaults like this would occur. Also the Reapers are coming and we need to eliminate every advantage they can get over us._ "

High Generals were having thoughtful expressions. I didn't remember all of them, but those that have met me personally were either shaking their heads in disapprove or had an expression like 'that can actually work'. The only exception was Seviros. He already got a lot of bitching from the other Generals for letting me stay on the Normandy. He was a tough bastard indeed, but couldn't argue with the whole Council so now he remained neutral. His holographic projection on the seat of the Council was glowing brightly, as he was currently over the Citadel with his fleet.

" _I say that we should grant him the access. We might as well add a virus that would react violently on the attempts of copying of moving the files._ " High General Indrigan declared, recieving a few annoyed glares and a few approving looks.

" _I say that we should not._ " Kraytt declared from his side recieving almost as much glares and approving looks as Indrigan. " _This is what they want. You might not see it, but they are influencing you all the time._ "

" _Sir, most of Shepard's squadmates clearly shows distrust and dislike towards Cerberus._ " I was trying to convince them with everything I had, but as most of the Carvins were perfectionists, High Generals also wanted very strong evidence that this is safe. " _I can take the responsibility for this data and that it will not be used inappropriately._ "

" _And if you fail, then what? We may loose one soldier, but we have plenty more._ " one of the High Generals that I didn't know pointed out. " _You taking responsibility for that data doesn't guarantee its safety._ "

" _It is the best thing we can do now to at least influence Commander Shepard on his mission to defeat the Collectors._ " Tivennia argued and I was extremely glad that she was on my side. If she was supporting a cause, it usually had an influence on the other High Generals.

The argument started to become more and more intensive. I almost lost my whole hope for the support so I was about to greet them and end transmission, but then Seviros suddenly smashed his holographic hand in the table, silencing everyone.

" _Idiotic fools! Don't you see it!?_ " he shouted and his eyes were pure cold and merciless. " _This is exactly what Reapers and Collectors want! The same thing happened to humans! They lose colonies and the other races dismiss the claims, making the hostility grow again! You want that to happen to US!?_ "

" _Seviros, with all due respect, but-_ " Kraytt wanted to say something, not forgetting to add a bit of venom to his voice, but Seviros interrupted him instantly.

" _Shut up, Kraytt! I don't want to listen to your bullshit!_ " he growled at him and returned to his statement. " _If we don't do anything now, more colonies may end up like Qreten or even worse! I say we give them that damn software, but with all safety precautions we can make. Virox should also be able to control it manually from his wrist computer for that EDI AI to not crack it._ "

Everyone was silent, including me. Of course that speech was pretty damn awesome, but giving ME the control over that software? I am no technician and certainly not a ship one. But after that speech even Kraytt was now seeming to be more approving towards me and my idea.

Seeing that no other High General disagreed, Seviros turned back towards me and said " _You will recieve all of the software you asked for, with all of the security precautions of course._ "

" _Thank you, sir._ " I saluted quickly.

 _"We will begin transfer soo-o-o-o...(static)_ " Seviros continued, but something seemed to jamm our comms.

"High _Generals? Do you read?_ " I tried to raise them, but no one has responded. I quickly ended the transmission, turned around and smashed the power button on EDI's terminal. "EDI, what the hell is going on?"

"The activation of the Reaper IFF seemed to have lured the Collectors to our position. Our weapon systems have been disabled. The ship is defenseless." after a moment the blue hologram of EDI appeared on her terminal. "I suggest you prepare for the assault. The Collectors are boarding the ship."

"Oh you have gotta be kidding me..." I rolled my eyes and quickly took both of my weapons. I wasn't going to leave anything for the Collectors to steal. "Chakwas, if I die because you told me to stay on the Normandy, I'll kill you."

And with that thought in my head, I quickly joined the other crewmembers who were gathering at the elevator to defend the ship.

 **Meanwhile, Joker's POV (A/N: From now on, there will be a LOT of POV swapping. You have been warned.)**

"Shit, shit shit!" I muttered in pain in fear as my bones weren't exactly the best in walking and the Collectors were everywhere either killing or abducting the crewmembers.

At least EDI was helpful for once. It activated a path of lights that would lead me safely to the AI core. Hovewer how effective this method would be was yet to be determined. Seeing a Praetorian jumping out of the elevator on the terrified crew sucked anyway.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I panicked as another praetorian flew by the window in the lab. Fortunately the maintenance shaft EDI was talking about was right here. I slowly crawled inside as with each step my legs hurt like if they were being smacked by a baseball bat.

"I recommend proceeding with caution after entering the Deck 3." EDI suddeny spoke through an invisible speaker somewhere in this shaft. "The majority of the Collectors is present there."

"Shit. We're all gonna freaking die here." I was literally freaking out right now.

"That is unlikely. The Collectors would rather take any living personel on their ship to perform experiments on them." it seemed that EDI didn't know when to stop.

"Thanks. That was... encouraging." I rolled my eyes and continued crawling through the maintenance shaft.

 **Virox's POV**

I stormed into the medbay, chased by regular Collector soldiers, and took cover behind the wall. They were coming for me and with only one arm and a pistol, I couldn't do much. I needed that extra 'ARMament'.

The Collectors were taking their time in capturing or killing me. That gave me some extra time. I looked around the room, trying to find my spare arm. Finally I found it on Doctor Chakwas' desk. It was put behind her computer.

Without a second thought, I grabbed it and tried to insert its nerve connector in the implant base on my shoulder. The moment I connected the arm to the rest of my body, a short but strong electric pulse went through it.

"Gah!" I grabbed my hand in pain, as I always hated electric shocks. Although I could hear the Collectors right behind the door. Fighting them head-on would be a suicide and I had enough near-death experiences for a while. There had to be a way out of the Med-bay that didn't involve fighting those guys.

The window behind the Doctor Chakwas' desk seemed to be the only way out as the AI core was a dead end to me. I wouldn't fit inside that maintenance shaft anyway.

Not caring about the consequences, I punched the glass, shattering it instantly. Then I jumped out of the room, blindly firing behind me in hope to accidentally hit one of the Collector soldiers. But now I found myself exposed, in the middle of the crew deck, without any cover.

"Shit! Where to go?" I literally started panicking right now, but fortunately the Collectors didn't see me yet. I heard a scream from the elevator that sounded like Kelly Chambers. Without any cover, I was going to die horribly.

Not even considering how stupid was this idea, I jumped over the first table, dived under the second one, and pulled one of the chairs back under it to hide behind it. Then I realized what I did and started to truly believe that I was already dead.

But it seemed that I have been blessed. Collectors slowly walked out of the medbay, but instead of following me directly towards the table, they looked around and walked away towards Miranda's room.

'Thank goodness for their "only human" scanning devices.' I thought with relief.

Suddenly I saw Joker on my right. He was limping and swearing while in the meantime he was heading towards the medbay. I didn't know what he was planning and didn't bother asking him through comms as the Collectors could possibly eavesdrop us. At least I hoped that he would get through the mess I made in the medbay.

As I was looking at him, it clearly seemed that he wasn't limping in there for no reason. Going through the hordes of Collectors, risking your life and the well-being of your legs, had to do something with it.

'He and EDI might have a plan...' I thought as the medbay door behind Joker quickly closed. 'Well, at least I can do something about it by keeping their attention off of them.'

What I was about to do was probably going to be the stupidest thing I have done in my entire millitary carreer. I crawled out from under the table and looked at a Scion that was slowly walking towards Miranda's room, possibly to support his Collector friends.

"HEY! UGLY!" I shouted and pulled out my new assault rifle. "Hit me! I dare you!"

I pressed the 'overcharge' button on the rifle to quickly take out that scion. But when I pulled the trigger, the gun didn't fire immediately. Instead it started to shake a bit and I needed to tighten my grip on it to keep it steady.

And then it turned into a frickin' minigun.

It released an unstoppable volley of energy bolts. I could feel the enormous heat coming from the weapon so I used my thoughts to turn off the heat detectors on my mechanical limbs. Though the recoil was incredibly hard to control.

Poor scion started to slowly back away and soon it became only a burned corpse with bubbles on the back. Two Collectors that went inside Miranda's room immediately got obliterated as they went out to check out what was happening.

"HAHA! Come and get some, you ugly bastards!" I let go my craziness and started shooting at every single Collector that dared to set foot in MY kitchen. "Scared of me!? Go cry to your mama!"

The strategy was working. Most of the Collector troops on the ship were now heading towards me and quickly ended up... well, dead. At least they did until I killed everyone and then a Praetorian appeared.

"Oh for goodness sake. Why are you the only one of them that seems to utterly hate me with passion?" I groaned and waited for my rifle/minigun to cool down a little bit. Praetorian didn't even bother and started to calmly head towards me. Behind him there was a bunch of normal Collector soldiers.

As my gun finally coolled down, I resumed my unstoppable volley of energy bolts. Fortunately Praetorian was using traditional mass effect barriers, which didn't stop energy-based weapons. It started shrieking in pain, but moved forward nontherless.

I found myself in an uncomfortable situation - standing in the middle of the room, completely exposed to enemy fire, and surrounded by hostiles. It was time to back off.

Slowly, trying to not seem scared, I started to walk towards the Main Battery. Now Praetorian's 'face' looked like a smoking crater, but it didn't mind.

I hid behind one of the big pipes in the hallway that led to the Main Battery. Didn't care about what their purpose was. Now my only objective was survival. And keeping these four-eyed bugs away from Joker.

 **Joker's POV**

This was the day when my legs have been pushed to their limits. I somehow managed to get pass the hordes of Collectors. What was interesting though was the fact that when I passed through the medbay, the window was smashed. Maybe that's how they pulled out Doctor Chakwas... I didn't want to think about it.

As I finally reached the AI core, I heard a few screams outside. It wasn't anyone of us though...

'Someone is putting up a fight.' a pleasant thought crossed my mind. 'Maybe they won't stuff all of us into these crazy pods.'

"OK, I'm at... uh... you." I said to EDI, as it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Connect the core to the Normandy's primary control module." it replied so emotionlessly that I really thought that it was going to kill me the second we get away from the Collectors.

"Great. See, this is where it starts, and when we're all organic batteries, guess who they'll blame?" I told myself as I had absolutely no trust to EDI. "Oh, this all Joker's fault! What a tool he was! I have to spend the whole day computing pi because he plugged in the Overlord."

EDI was unpredictable and I could feel it in my gut. It was stalking me and everyone of this ship, leaving all of us with absolutely no privacy. Well, no one except Virox and Garrus who completely debugged their room and every time Miranda attempted to bug it again, she was immediately pacified, or the bugs were destroyed. Also they were constantly plugging off EDI's terminal when they wanted privacy and covering the cameras with all sorts of stuff. I wished I could do that... at least Shepard let me had a little fun with her... no, IT.

After a moment I finally connected the AI core to control module and immediately EDI's holographic projection increased its size for half a second and then vanished completely. But then the lights that were turned off before were now glowing.

"I have access to the defensive systems. Thank you Mr. Moreau." EDI finally appeared back on the nearby terminal. It's voice seemed... a bit louder. Or maybe that was only me. "Now you must reactivate the primary drive in engineering."

"Argh! You want me to go crawl through the ducts again." I groaned. "My legs have already worked enough for this lifetime."

"I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees." it replied.

...

...

...

"That was a joke." she finally specified.

"Uh-huh... Right." I didn't know what to think about it... Overlord has gained the ability to be humorous. Next would be controlling our brains...

"The shaft behind you connects to the engineering deck. Good luck." She said. And I caught myself again for thinking 'she' about it. Although it seemed that EDI was nicer to me after I plugged the AI core to the Normandy's systems. Or maybe that was just a cover? Right now I didn't know and certainly didn't care.

It was time for another baseball bat smacking torture on the ladder. Hopefully turning on the drive was going to be enough to stop the Collectors...

 **Virox's POV**

It was easy to fight a bunch of Collectors in a tight hallway. It was hard to fight a bunch of Collectors in a tight hallway with a Praetorian in front of them acting like a living shield. Seriously though, how much that thing could take? Its face was nonexistent now! How was it still alive?

I learned an interesting fact about the new 'overcharge' mode on my new assault rifle - if it wasn't provided enough energy to keep firing, it was taking it from my shields. I found about that the hard way.

With my greatest source of damage out of action, I needed to restrategize. But with a limited amound of hallway left, my retreating capabilities were really small.

Grenades, rockets, projectile-based weapons, everything would be blocked by the Praetorian's barrier, which left me only with my pistol and assault rifle. But whatever I did, it just didn't care. I needed to take it out fast, otherwise it would take out me.

Praetorian shireked loudly, making my vulnerable to ultra and infrasounds ears hurt. Although by doing that it showed me something I didn't see before. Inside its belly, there was something blue glowing brightly. Maybe it was some sort of mass effect field generator? I didn't know for sure, but there were no other options left.

I switched my assault rifle to 'shotgun' mode and prayed for not dying. Then i threw a grenade at the Praetorian. The ball exploded, making the beast flinch. It certainly didn't like that and screeched again. And this was exactly that I was waiting for.

I punched my assault rifle inside its mouth and started to pull the trigger as fast as I could. The Praetorian wasn't pleased with such behaviour and closed its jaws on my arm. I felt pain from the bite, but didn't stop firing. My arm was somehow miraculously holding in one piece and I did not want to lose another one.

As the pain in the arm was becoming unbearable, suddenly the Praetorian opened its mouth widely. What was left of its eyes were now on fire. It backed off and knocked down a few Collector soldiers by the way. The shrieks it made, were painful, but I quickly backed off just in time to see a glorious view.

Praetorian started shaking violently and I could see the flames and blue energy coming out of its stomach. Finally it exploded, covering all the walls in synthetic meat and blood. I didn't really know how to call its guts, but it was beautiful seeing them everywhere.

Now I just needed to deal with the remaining Collector foot soldiers. Hopefully Joker and EDI were almost done.

 **Joker's POV**

"Hostiles are present in engineering." EDI informed me as I finally crawled out of the ducts. "They are heading towards the cargo bay."

Well at least they weren't going to block the entrance to the reactor for long. I started limping towards the stairs, but then noticed a shadow on the wall in front of me. Two collector soldiers were escorting one of the pods. I waited slowly for them to pass by.

"Engineering is clear of hostiles. Proceed immediately to minimize chances of detection." EDI said and I started limping up the stairs which wasn't plesant at all. But I caught myself not whining about unshackling the Overlord anymore. Was EDI influencing my brain already?

'Ah, screw that.' I thought and entered the engineering. It was completely empty and the reactor seemed to be offline. I approached the right terminal and immediately heard EDI talking.

"Activate the drive and I will open the airlocks as we accelerate. All hostiles will be killed." she said making me flinch in surprise.

"What!? What about the crew?" I couldn't believe that she would do that to them.

"They're gone, Jeff. The Collectors took them." EDI replied, explaining everything... But I could swear I heard a bit of sadness in her voice. Strange...

"Shit..." I muttered in anger, although I did as I was told and approached the main reactor terminal.

"I am sealing the engine room." EDI informed and the reactor started pulsing with energy. But as we were about to jump into FTL, an explosion shook the ship... from the inside. "Hold on. I have detected some activity on Deck 3 and recieved a contact request. It is not the Collectors. I'm patching it through."

The moment EDI patched through the signal, an explosion could be heard followed by the sound of firefight.

"This is Virox! Does anyone copy?" a familiar voice could be heard and I was never more happy to hear this crazy bastard.

"Virox!?" I asked in surprise. "You're alive?"

"Yep. Alive and kicking a crap ton of Collector ass." he chuckled, but then groaned from pain. "Ugh! But this is getting boring out here! Do you have ANY plan to get us outta here?"

"We are going to open the airlocks as we accelerate to FTL. That will kill everyone that isn't in a sealed area." EDI replied.

"And that includes me." Virox figured out everything immediately. "Can you do something that will keep me alive during this jump?"

"I could seal another room on the ship in which you could hide while we accelerate." she anwsered. "Although I require your current location."

"Main Battery! Just punch it now, or else I'm dead BEFORE we even jump!" he shouted followed by another sound of firefight.

I looked at EDI's terminal with panic and urge to hurry up.

"Preparations completed. Main Battery is sealed." she reported and the main reactor started to warm up. I had to cover my eyes from the light it was emitting. "I have control..."

And right after that creepy sentence, I felt an enormous power knocking me off balance as we jumped into FTL. My vision went black for a second...

...

...

...

After a while I opened my eyes, woken up by a synthetic voice.

"The purge is complete. No other life forms on board. Securing airlocks and cargo bay doors." EDI informed as I was slowly getting up. It was done.

"Send a message to Shepard's shuttle." I let out as my muscles were burning from pain. "Tell him what happened."

"Message away. Are you feeling well, Jeff?" she asked, surprising me with such care about me.

"No..." I anwsered weakly. "But thanks for asking..."

With that I slowly walked away from the reactor. At least we managed to save Virox. And maybe he saved us as well by keeping these Collectors busy.

Seeing anyone right now was better than staring at the empty chairs.

 **Virox's POV**

I slowly collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. This was it. I killed another Praetorian and a bunch of normal Collectors. By myself. And I came out of it in one piece. This was one of the hardest fights in my life.

After a while I stood up and leaned on the wall to gather my thoughts. We escaped the Collector ship... but at what cost? All of the crewmembers except me, Joker and EDI were kidnapped.

There was no turning back now...

The High Generals had to fully accept my request, even despite Seviros' persuasion. I quickly wrote a brief message explaining what exactly happened and sent it to the High General Council. Then I opened the door of the Main Battery.

The rooms were empty...

There was complete silence, except the quiet humming of the reactor which only me, Grunt and Legion could hear. But they weren't here. And they weren't going to be pleased about what happened.

Suddenly I noticed Joker slowly walking into the mess. His face was clearly showing pain, which I couldn't blame him for. It was his ship. His crew. And he lost it.

"Hey, Joker!" I waved at him and he slowly turned towards me. A little smile appeared on his face. "So, we did it."

"Yeah... we did." he spoke weakly.

"Oh come on!" I tried to lighten up the mood. "If it wasn't up to you, I'd be either dead or kidnapped, which would also result in death eventually."

"It is unknown what Collectors would do with you Virox." EDI obviously had to interfere. "They were more likely to abduct humans than-"

"EDI..." me and Joker said in perfect unison, not hiding annoyance. "Just... just no."

"Very well. Logging off." she replied and we were left alone again.

"So, you sent the message to Shep?" I asked Joker, who nodded slightly.

"Yeah. He probably already knows what happened." he replied.

"Well, I informed the High Generals of my species. I expect them to send us a bit of exclusive software to help us during the attack on the Collector base." I said and looked around the Deck 3. "Don't you think that we should clean this mess a bit, before Shepard arrives?"

"Uh-huh, you could say that." Joker smiled weakly and I felt good deep inside. At least I managed to keep him from complete breakdown and that was something.

But that didn't mean I wasn't angry too. I was furious. The Collectors were going to pay for what they did...

And they were going to pay in blood.

 **A/N: Aaaaand done. Just to let you know guys, this chapter was supposed to arrive 2 days ago, but I won't excuse myself - I was being lazy as hell. Sorry about that. Also, I'm thinking about writting a special chapter which would compare the current political and military status of the Carvin Empire to the other races of the Milky Way galaxy. Although I don't know if I should do that before the chapter about Suicide Mission or after. You can give your own opinions. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	14. Carvin economy, politics and military

**A/N: Hey guys, it's me again and, as I promised before, this special chapter will be focusing on the current political, economical and military status of the Carvin Empire on the galactic scale. I have been using Mass Effect Wikia as a source of my information, but information about the Carvins is made by me. I tried to be as balanced as possible, but there is a reason of why Carvins seem so powerful. It will be revealed in the future. Just understand that this chapter is just comparison and analysis of the information provided by ME games and myself, which is then summed up in a simulation. I will put the Carvins against the Turians, who are considered to have the most powerful military in the Milky Way Galaxy. For ship and vehicle sizes from Mass Effect I used Euderion's Ultimate starship size comparison and Small vehicles size comparison, because of the lack of real data on these vehicles. If you disagree with some of my decisions, feel free to share your concerns in the reviews. I'll try to correct the chapter.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Shadowhorror: Great chapter as always one injured carvin and joker managed to save the ship :) hope chakwas is not turned to husk next time they meet the collectors :D**

 **Well technically you can't kill Chakwas in the base game, but you can kill everyone else except for her and therefore make her suffer. Although I'm not planning on doing that. You'll see in the next chapter. Also, I appreciate your activity in this story. Feel free to let me know if you think that something can be changed for better.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CURRENT CARVIN POLITICAL STATUS**

 **Overview**

To put it shortly, Carvins had a rough start. Their quite loud appearance on the galactic arena gained them distrust of many species. Despite that, Carvins still manage to slowly improve their relations with other races, though how effective will that be in the near future is yet to be determined.

 **Difficult begginings**

The chase after the Normandy Sr-2 and the battle over Citadel put Carvins in an extremely uncomfortable position to start from. The lack of trust and fear towards them made many of the political moves incredibly difficult to perform. Although possession of some of the most exotic pieces of technology, that obviously wasn't prothean, gave them a bit of respect from other species. Assigning one of their fleets to the Citadel Defense Fleet increased this effect even more.

 **Political doctrine**

Being a military society just like Turians, Carvins are extremely expansive and prefer to actually do things rather than spend days talking about them. That's why the agressive approach was openly criticized by the members of the Citadel Council. They were compared to Humans in their expansive nature and agressive politics, making any treaties, contracts or agreements incredibly hard to sign. Carvin society hates and criticizes conservative movements. In their opinion the tradition is important, but not as important as moving forward and improving the current system. Their goverment is a system that is a combination of democracy and authoritarianism. Individual colonies can vote freerly and decide on their own matters by themselves. The goverment is composed of a group of specialized individuals elected by the citizens of the planet, just like the human parliament. They decide on all matters on the planet using standard democratic system, whether it is on expanding new cities or building a mining facility on the nearest asteroid belt. All colonies are direct subordinates to the Carvistorn, the Carvin homeworld and therefore it can have a great influence on all of the colonies in the Carvin Empire. At the highest level of goverment are the High Generals, who form a High General Council. They directly control different regions of the Carvin Empire and have authoritarian power over all of the colonies within the region. Despite all of this power, Carvistorn remains neutral and all of the matters on the planet are decided by the whole High General Council. Being told from birth to expect facts, numbers and realistic possiblilites, Carvins are incredibly demanding when it comes to electing goverments. Furthermore all colonies have a special political police which determines if the elected political party is fulfilling its promises. If it doesn't fulfill all of them during their term of office, the political party is disbanded and all of its members get a lot of community service and are forbidden from joining or forming another political party for a certain amount of time. Therefore all of the politicians of the Carvin Empire are individuals of great experience, as the weaker individuals are removed during the process Carvins call the 'political selection', heavily based on the concept of natural selection.

 **Present time**

The sudden abandoning the post by High General Seviros spreaded shock, fear and panic through the Citadel, despite further justification. Carvins realized that trying to bargain with the Council races was going to be fruitless, so they focused their attention on the smaller and less influential races instead. Recent trade and political contracts with Courts of Dekuuna and Illuminated Primacy, provided them with some stable political 'foothold' for their further actions. The hard work of Carvin diplomats started to pay off as some of the more influential species in the Citadel space started to become more open for their requests and offers.

 **ECONOMY**

 **Overview**

As the most recent race to join the galactic community, Carvin economy isn't obviously one of the strongest ones. But the possession of exotic Grox technology made them quite attractive trade partners. Carvins made it pretty clear that if the other races wanted their products so badly, they needed to pay a decent prize for them.

 **Doctrine**

Carvins, similarly to the Salarians, had based their economy mostly on 'bleeding-edge' technologies. While not in every direction they could surpass their amphibian rivals in this category, they defianetely made up for extreme reliability of the selled products. There was almost no report of malfunction of any Carvin equipement that was sold, given that it was certified as theirs (many smaller companies tried to manufacture cheaper versions of the Carvin products, with little success hovewer as Carvins install many safeguards to prevent piracy or forgery of their tech). Many of the larger species still kept their markets closed for Carvin companies, so they started aiming at the independent markets instead, achieving formidable successes in that field.

 **Current status**

While possessing a lot of extremely efficient and reliable products, Carvin economy is limited by the markets that are available to them. Most of the highly influential races, in order to slow down the Carvin expansion, have forbidden them from trading in their spaces. This move gave the Citadel races exactly what they wanted. Carvins were forced to trade on the conditions set by the Council, greately lowering their political and economical power. Nontherless, some of the less influential species started opening their markets for Carvin products hoping for technological advance. In the present day Carvins still have a very hard time trading, yet the progress cannot be missed and their economy is labeled to be somewhere between Human and Elcor. Although, from what economical observers say, it might change quickly, as Humans and Carvins are planning to open a trade route, providing both races with incredible economical boost. It is speculated that both of the races might surpass the Elcor economy. However how accurate these speculations are is yet to be determined, as the final agreements are still being made.

 **MILITARY STATUS OF THE CARVIN EMPIRE**

Carvin military is considered to be one of the strongest military forces in the Milky Way galaxy. The number of dreadnoughts they possess rivals the Turian Navy and usually their ships are bigger than their Turian counterparts due to the different ship classification. Although these two forces were never involved into a conflict with eachother, so it is not yet determined which one of these two is the best. While they possess a formidable navy, Carvin ground forces are not worse in any matter. Fast reproductive system and long lifespan provides the Carvin Army with incredible amount of manpower. All of the civilians also go through the basic training as a result of The Great Grox War. This particular conflict in Carvin history greatly influenced the current shape and form of Carvin military. To be more specific, both Carvin Army and Navy are going to be discussed separately.

 **CARVIN NAVY**

 **Overview**

The size of the Carvin Navy is compared to the one of the Turians. Similar number of dreadnoughts made them great rivals to their avian neighbours. But on the galactic arena, Carvin ships were utilizing completely different technology, both in weapon systems, shields and even engines to move around the galaxy. Both of the sides have strengths and weaknesses, therefore it is quite hard to determine which is superior. Although Carvins might have very strong ships, they invest more into few very capable ships rather than the size of their navy itself. Therefore the size of their fleet overall is quite smaller than the Turian.

 **Naval doctrine**

Carvin navy is quite versatile and flexible, but at the same time fails to excel in any direction. Their fleets can either deliver strong punches and participate in massive space battles, or perform hit-and-run attacks on enemy supply routes. The tactics and strategies are based on the faced enemy and the current status of the war. Although, what distinguishes the Carvin Navy from the other naval powers in the Milky Way, is the wide use of starfighters and bombers. Even dreadnoughts and cruisers can carry a limited amount of spacecraft, though the latter rarely use that ability. Carvins prefer close-quarter combat in space due to the effective range of most of their weapons. When in battle, Carvins usually don't engage the enemy with all of their ships. They keep some light vessels in a system nearby, ready to immediately surprise the enemy from flank or behind. Forced by the lack of heavy warships during The Great Grox War, Carvins started making use of advanced starfighters and they kept doing that after the war was over too.

 **Technology**

Almost all weapons used by the Carvin Empire are energy-based. But unlike the GARDIAN system utilized by the Citadel races, laser weapons used by the Carvins have longer effective range. They reverse-engineered the Grox ways of energy concentration, but still couldn't match their results. As an example we'll take an Alliance Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought. A heavy laser cannon constructed by Carvins can save up to 10% of its energy on the maximal effective range of Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought. On the other hand, a heavy laser cannon manufactured by the Grox could keep up to 40% of the energy on the same distance. Energy weapons are known to not be affected by the standard kinetic barriers. Carvins also utilize the ion or electromagnetic weaponry. Their role is to disable enemy ships or at least to mess with their energy systems. The latter is more effective in combat, but it is more energy-demanding and expensive to use. That's why it is usually installed on the core planets of the Carvin Empire as a defensive land-space defense. The Ion weaponry is less energy-demanding and can be effectively utilized on any kinds of starships. Although their effectiveness is a lot lower than its electromagnetic counterpart. Nevertheless it can also be installed on the planet surface and is usually built on smaller colonies to protect from small enemy flotillas. Both electromagnetic and ion weaponry can bypass the standard kinetic barriers. They don't deal any physical damage to the targeted vessel, but they don't have to. Disabled vessel cannot attack or defend itself and makes an easy target for fighters or smaller warships to easily take it out.

The energy shields utilized by the Carvins were also reverse-engineered from the Grox ships. They provided an excelent protection from the energy based threats like heat, radiation, electricity or just energy. But when it comes to the projectile-based weapons, it can be easily overloaded. This means that any projectile-based weapons can deal up to 85% more damage to the shields than the energy weapon of relatively the same strength.

(A/N: I needed to improvise with the shields. In Spore the shield could stop any types of weapons at 100%, so I tried to go somewhere between super op and absolutely terrible)

Carvin way of traveling FTL is completely different than that of the Citadel races. While the latter use the mass effect fields to reduce the mass of their ships, Carvins do something else. From what was extracted from the databanks of the Grox ships, it seems that they based their technology on the wormholes, which could transport anything from point A to point B with incredible speed, even faster than the mass melays. The Grox have studied the 'dimension' through which the objects are transported to the other side of the wormhole and discovered that this entirely new 'dimension' had completely different laws of physics and the mass works completely differently than in our dimension. They managed to create an interstellar drive that can't transport ships with the same speed as the wormholes, but still do it quite fast. Although it isn't as fast as the mass melays this time. Carvins had copied this technology and utilized it in their own ships, making them completely independent from the mass melays. Although the drive has its limits as the energy necessary to open the 'gateway' to this entirely new 'dimension' is quite huge. Also long-ranged journeys are hard to plot and the drift can be quite dangerous. Because of that, Carvin ships need to jump from system to system, yet without the need of leaving the FTL. In a full scale war this could give an enormous tactical advantage over the Citadel Races, as most of the Carvin colonies are located out of range of the mass relay network. But using this type of FTL produces massive amount of radiation and therefore it critically limits the Carvin stealth techniques in space.

(A/N: The idea with the wormholes was my own, or at least that's what I think. If I somehow accidentally copied someone else's idea, I'm sorry. I only tried to make a way to travel through the galaxy without the Mass Relays. I hope you can understand that.)

Carvins also utilize ion engines as their means of sublight travel for all of their space vessels. They provide surprisingly good speed and are powered by the ion reactors (also reverse-engineered from the Grox) installed on most of the Carvin ships (except fighters and bombers). With both modules being ion-based, Carvin vessels have increased general energy output and are easier to produce.

 **Warships**

The biggest ship of the Carvin Navy is the Relentless-class Dreadnought. It's a 3 kilometer vessel that is classified a dreadnought by the Treaty of Farixen, although some experts are suggesting creation of another class called - superdreadnoughts. First ship of this class serves as a flagship of High General Seviros and bares the same name. The main armament of the Relentless-class Dreadnought is the energy beam installed on the front of the vessel. It can either fire laser or ion beam for disabling enemy warships. Despite its look, the laser beam isn't in fixed position. It can fire at 20 degree angle in any forward-facing direction, either a bit on the left, right, up or down. Its effective range can be compared to the effective range of a cruiser utilizing mass effect technology. Its effective firing rate is once every 6 seconds while the beam can last 2 seconds. The second armament of this vessel are the heavy dual laser cannons. These rapid firing guns are mounted on turrets, which means they can turn and track the target in motion. They are most effective when used in closed range and the total amount of these weapon emplacements on this ship is 30. Last, but not least are the point defense laser turrets. They have a lot longer effective range than GARDIAN system and are capable of rapidly shooting down enemy fighters. There are about 40 such weapon emplacements on this ship. Carvins also installed a secon energy beam emitter right on top of the bridge. It is a lot smaller than the main gun, but still packs enough punch to heavily damage a corvette-sized ship. It is a turret so it can rotate 360 degree aroun, allowing for superior tracking and firing at the targets in motion. Relentless-class Dreadnought has a few radiator panels on the rear of its hull. They are functioning as a cooling system during the battle, and because they are mounted on the rear of the ship, they can be used during combat. Relentless-class Dreadnought also possesses 2 hangar bays, each containing 2 squadrons of fighters and 1 squadron of bombers. The main role of dreadnoughts is to lead large fleets into big battles.

The backbone of the Carvin navy is a Slicer-class Battlecruiser. It is 756 meters long and, just like the Relentless-class Dreadnought, it possesses a laser beam emitter as a main armament that can fire either energy or ion beams, though its range is relatively shorter. The beam can fire every 4 seconds and it lasts 1 second. Second armament of this ship are 4 dual turbolaser turrets. While turbolasers are more effective and have longer range than heavy laser turrets, they consume more energy and space. Therefore the Dreadnoughts don't utilize such weaponry. Because of the very energy-demanding turbolasers, Slicer-class Battlecruiser possesses only 16 point defense laser turrets and no additional armament. This vessel can also magnetically attach starfighters to its hull, but rarely uses that ability. Slicer-class Battlecruiser really shines during 1v1 battles. No smaller ship is usually strong enough to go against it. If it can get close enough to target the enemy with its turbolasers, there is usually no escape. Slicer-class Battlecruiser has two big wings on both sides of the ship that can be detatched of the hull and act as a cooling system during the battle. Although they can make firing more efficient and are heavily armored, they also increase the size of the ship and are usually attached closely to the ship when in close quarter combat. The ship itself is also surprisingly fast for a cruiser.

Working in groups, usually under command of a Slicer-class Cruiser, Blackstar-class Frigate is making up for the majority of the firepower possessed by the Carvin Navy. These 480 meters long warships are often hunting larger vessels during the battle or protecting friendly dreadnoughts and cruisers from enemy spacecraft. Carrying 2 frontal dual heavy laser cannons, 4 dual heavy laser turrets and about 24 point defense emplacements, this warship has 'versatility' written all over it. Its point defense turrets are equiped with a sophisticated sensor and targeting software to maximize its effectiveness against starfighters. While its primary role is to escort larger ships, Blackstars can also hunt for enemy cruisers in groups, taking advantage of their numbers and surprisingly good firepower. Although due to their mass and size, they are not as fast and maneuverable as their counterparts utilized by the other Milky Way species (it's a different ship classification as well). Blackstar-class Frigate also utilizes the same cooling technology as the Slicer-class Battlecruiser.

Serving the same purpose like the frigates of the other Milky Way races, Carvin Ironhead-class Corvette is the fastest warship actively serving in the Carvin Navy. These fast and agile little ships are usually circling above the battlefield like the vultures from Earth, waiting for any enemy ship to disengage or to loose its shiels, or fly in formation with the fleet, protecting the other ships from fighters. With superior speed and maneuverability, Ironhead-class corvettes could easily take down even cruiser-class ships if working in groups. They could also fight the enemy corvette-sized ships to prevent them from utilizing this tactic on themselves. These warships utilized 4 heavy dual laser turrets and 12 light dual laser turrets. Light laser turrets were something between the point defense turrets and heavy laser turrets and could fulfill the role of both these types of armament with an acceptable effectiveness.

Carvins also utilize spacecraft carriers. There is only one type of carrier designed so far, but its design still meets, and in some cases even exceeds the expectations of the modern ships of this time. The name of this carrier is the Thunder-class Spacecraft Carrier, TCSC for short. It is over 1200 meters in length and can carry up to 1400 starfighters. Because of the fact that Carvin spacecraft can take off and land vertically and that it uses multiple hangar bays instead of just one, dispatching and storing all of the fighters and bombers is faster and more efficient. Thunder-class Spacecraft Carrier carries a modest point defense armament of 24 turrets. In addition, to deal with larger threats, it can use 8 dual heavy laser cannons in self defense, but it is rather to force enemy ships to disengage rather than to fight them directly. Cariers also function as recharging stations for the fighters. Its masive reactor can provide energy for 65% of all of its fighters while stationary.

Last but certainly not least was the Assassin-class starship. It doesn't fit in any of the known ship cathegory. It is a 20 meter long ship, which possesses only one armament - a heavy dark energy cannon, that is capable of destroying cruiser-sized vessels in one hit WITH the shields at its maximum power. It also features many stealth systems, including cloak, and a sophisticated jamming technology, which Carvins themselves do not quite understand. The ship itself was stolen from the Grox during the war, yet even on this day Carvins did not succeed in recreating this technology on warships other than the Assassin. It did however boost the developement of more advanced jamming systems and software. The way it works in battle is quite simple - when the Assassin wants to fire its main gun, it needs to decloak and turn off all of its stealth systems. As it prepares to fire, the jamming systems are filling BOTH enemy and friendly frequencies with statics, while all targeting and scanning systems are disabled for a short time. This jamming technology acts as a secondary defense on the ship as it is extremely vulnerable when it prepares to fire and it CAN be taken out by manual targeting weapon systems (like starfighters). But because of the enormous power output, Assassin-class is not equipped with shields. It has also incredibly slow fire rate - only once for 2 minutes, which is why it is used to destroy the crucial targets on the battlefield and goes back to hiding between the attacks. It is incredibly expensive to make, but its undeniable firepower still makes him worth of the cost.

 **Spacecraft**

During the events of The Great Grox War, Carvins were running short on larger vessels. Therefore they were forced to utilize small and advanced starfighters to fight their cybernetic adversaries. The Great Grox War showed the Carvins how effective can be a well equipped group of starfighters against a larger ship with insufficient point defense. Because of that the modern Carvin starfighters are incredibly versatile. They are divided into 2 groups - fighters and bombers

As a standard issue fighter, Carvin Navy utilize the X-126 interceptor. This V-shaped vehicle can carry a heavy armament of 4 rapid fire laser cannons and two concussion missile launchers to target enemy spacecraft or larger ships. That also provides it with capability to serve as a light bomber role. It also possesses the energy beam emitter capable of firing once every 4 seconds, each blast lasting about 0,5 seconds. Unlike its Milky Way counterparts, it DOES possess a small shield generator, providing it an increased protection from enemy point defense armament. Its hull is made of reantanium, a very rare, yet incredibly light and durable material. Its weight is only a bit bigger than the aluminium. As the main propulsion system, X-126 uses 4 ion engines that give the vessel impressive speed for its size and mass. While it might not be faster than other starfighters, it compensates with unrivaled mobility and its speed is comparable to the vessels of other races. Its two wings on both sides are used as cooling systems during combat. That much power in one small vessel is a lot to take in. Carvin pilots need at least 6000 hours of training to be considered worthy of deployment. X-126 can be used as an interceptor, very light bomber or support craft during ground operations. Because of multiple systems installed on this spacecraft, X-126 has a quite big energy output. It often needs to recharge after each battle fought. Although it is not a problem as all of the carriers can serve as recharge stations and hangar bays installed on the planets have their own reactors that are designed specifically for recharging starfighters. But unlike their counterparts from the other species, they do not possess an FTL drive.

When it comes to bombers, Carvins have designed a reliable Incinerator-class Bomber. While it is significantly slower than its fighter cousin, it possesses an impressive armament of two heavy laser cannons (not the warship ones, just the heavier version of rapid fire laser cannons). They fire a lot slower than those of X-126, because only 2 shots per second, but they deal significantly larger damage. For the main anti-armor and anti-ship weapons, Incinerator uses one heavy concussion missile launcher and one ion torpedo launcher. While both of those weapons are projectile based, the impulse of the ion torpedo can still affect the ship due to its ability to bypass kinetic barriers and disable some of its systems. In addition, Incinerator has a rear gunner that protects the vessel from any enemy spacecraft trying to take it down and is equipped with a shield generator.

 **Unique technical advantages**

Because of the less powerful armament of the Carvin vessels, they can be used to commence orbital bombardment of the planet without completely obliterating its surface. These precise strikes can be used to directly support the ground forces during the attack.

Due to the fact that Carvin weaponry is energy-based, all of the fired laser 'bolts' will travel at the speed of light. As the 800 meter mass accelerator can accelerate a 5 kg slug to 1.3% of speed of light, Carvin weapons have almost a 100 times higher 'projectile' speed.

Carvins can freerly redirect the energy from all systems into 3 base categories - weapons, engines and shields. That makes their ships more flexible in battle, allowing for many advanced maneuvers.

Reantanium is used as the main armor of the most starships. Its lightness and durability provide Carvins with increased protection from the projectile-based weapons, asteroids or even just flying scrap.

Because almost every weapon emplacement on Carvin ship is a turret, all of them can be used as point defense, although the effectiveness of such mechanic lowers as the weapon is heavier.

 **Unique biological advantages**

While their enhanced eyesight is not really a game changer on the long distances, it really comes to play when in close-quarter combat, especially for starfighter pilots. Their faster reaction time combined with better eyes makes them unrivaled when it comes to dogfights and fighter piloting in general.

 **Impact of the previous conflicts**

The Carvins as a whole were greately affected by The Great Grox War and their doctrine, weapons, gear and technology reflects that. They have designed incredible starfighters, because the situation demanded it. They rose to their power thinking that other races were using the same technology as them and that the galaxy is a dangerous place full of strong military races. The Great Grox War also had one significant impact on the whole Carvin race. They knew they weren't safe and because of that they needed to stick together. Unity in the Carvin Empire is considered the strongest among the races. Both soldiers and civilians are often forming strong bonds despite not being related. But facing an enemy such as The Grox had an impacts on the leaders as well. When facing enemy navy with superior numbers, technology and equipement, with a limited manpower at their disposal, Carvin leaders were forced to be smart. They needed to learn to improvise and perform their operations with caution without loosing their good soldiers. While the official Carvin Navy was obliterated in the first months of the invasion, the resistance groups could work together and wage guerilla warfare with a few remaining ships and sometimes even vessels stolen from the Grox. This proved the flexibility of the Carvin naval forces, which could immediately change tactics when needed. Facing cyborgs also forced them to develop sophisticated electronic defences. The Grox themselves had their brains chipped in the way that they could literally interact with most of the software with their minds. That included hacking and electronic warfare overall. Carvins are also naturally willing to sacrifice themselves for the group. While that can be helpful during a full-scale war, it can lead to enormous casualties during a single battle.

 **CARVIN GROUND FORCES**

 **Overview**

Because of the incredibly efficient reproductive system, Carvins have an impressive number of manpower at their disposal, and the quick maturing of newborn Carvins can be effectively used to fill the gaps in the military. Carvins themselves use a lot of sophisticated equipement and tactics, but take advantage of their biological superiority during the battle as well.

 **Military Doctrine**

Given the Carvins' natural speed, they focus heavily on the mobile warfare and combined arms. The endurance of an individual soldier allows for long, marathon-like running, sometimes making it unneccessary to transport troops in land vehicles. Despite that, Carvins still utilize many forms of motorized and mechanized infantry to outmaneuver their enemies. Their armored vehicles is usually fast and mobile as well to perform such tactics, though it is not happening at the expense of firepower. Originally Carvin tactics focused on long engagements, without pushing forward to tire the enemy. The Great Grox War set new rules of engagements, but these tactics still stayed in the tactic book of Carvin officers. But what distinguishes the Carvin warfare from the other examples of such doctrine in the Milky Way, is their advanced and precise air support. Carvins believe that air domination, both in space and in atmosphere, is critical to every battle's outcome. All Carvin pilots are trained to perform precise strikes on the enemy positions, while at the same time not hitting the allied forces. Carvins also do not hesitate to demoralize their enemies to gain advantage on the battlefield or force them to do what they want.

 **Technology**

Just like witht the Navy, the Carvin Ground Forces utilize the energy-based weapons as their primary armament. While practically the only limitation of this weapon is heat, it is easily eliminated by the interesting 'reloading' mechanic. As the weapon overheats during the continuous fire, the heat produces is magazined in a special heat sink. When the weapon finally overheats, the heat sink pops out and releases all the heat to the air in short time and firing can continue. Although it is recommended to keep the head away from the heat sink as it pops out - it can cause severe burns. The weapon itself can cool down on its own as well, just like the Milky Way weapons utilized before the Battle of Citadel. Because the energy bolts travel at the speed of light, aiming became a lot easier.

 **Armor and protection**

The standard Carvin armor consists of reantanium plates covering most of the body, excluding the 'face' and some parts of the back, because of the wings. It provides excellent protection against any projectiles, explosions, melee attacks and most of the physical threats, but quite weak against energy-based weapons. To compensate for that weakness, every Carvin soldier possessed a personal shield generator, capable of effectively stopping any energy-based anti-infantry fire. But since it was designed to stop such form of fire, it could be easily taken down by projectile-based weapons. In addition all body armor suits used by Carvin soldiers possess a layer that protects them from most enviromental hazards. These two forms of protection were effectively compensating for each other's weaknesses, but Carvins haven't invented any form of protection that would effectively fill the roles of both of them.

 **Small arms**

The main assault weapon of Carvin troops was the Carvin Assault Rifle - 26, CAR-26 for short. As most of the Carvin weapons, it is energy-based and therefore doesn't require ammunition. It has two firing modes - automatic and semi-automatic. The former is excellent in taking out masses of infantry or in close quarter combat. The latter is more accurate and is specifically effective on long range, perfect for taking out heavier infantry units. Some Carvins like to use this mode all the time as excercise to increase their accuracy. The weapon utilizes the standard 'reloading' system described before. It can be also heavily modified to fit certain situations.

The standard sidearm of every Carvin trooper was the heavy SR-12 hybrid revolver. This reliable piece of weaponry had an effective range of over 80 meters and was excelent at taking out particular targets. It can be switched into shotgun mode, which makes it fire 5 energy bolts per shot at the expense of range and accuracy. Although it was a military-grade weapon, it was legal for the civilians to purchase these weapons for self-defense. Inappropriate usage would result in heavy finantial punishment and harsh community service, along with prohibition of further using this weapon. SR-12 was utilizing the same firing and cooling technology as CAR-26.

 **Support weapons**

As a support weapon used against enemy infantry groups and smaller vehicles, is the LGL-172 grenade launcher. This 8-barreled revolver-type heavy weapon looks kind of like the its old-fashioned human counterparts from the XXI centrury, but a lot more slim in shape. It can fire incinerating grenades to surpress groups of enemy infantry, but it proved to be extremely underpowered against anything tougher than an armored car.

To deal with larger vessels Carvins use the advanced missile launcher, the FT-11. It can fire both domed and guided projectiles. While it doesn't deal much damage in direct hit, it has a cone-shaped head to stick into the armor of the target to then explode with increased damage. This mechanic is quite successful against energy shielded vessels, but it deals significantly less damage when confronting objects protected by kinetic barriers.

Widely used by Carvin shock troops, the NL-72 is a flamethrower utilized effectively in urban areas. It uses a modified napalm as amunition and proves to be extremely effective against fortifications, buildings and people inside them. Because of the fact that these devices are very dangerous to use, the fuel tanks are heavily armored, but Carvins still prefer to recruit soldiers with psychopatic or sociopathic behaviour to use this equipement.

While Carvins didn't possess anymore support weapons, their small arms and other equipement was highly modular and could be modified to fit different situations.

 **Assault vehicles**

For a standard tank, Carvins were using the Hunter-class assault tank. It was armed with one heavy laser cannon mounted on the tank's tower, and also an antu-infantry rapid fire laser cannon on the top of the tower. The main armament of the Hunter could be set into two modes - one that could slowly fire powerful energy bolts to counter mechanical threats, or a rapid fire mode that could be used against clustered groups of infantry and had an additiona psychological effect on the troops fighting against it. Because seeing a tank firing 2 times per second is only pleasant when it is on your side. Its cooling system could be used as a close-ranged defense from enemy infantry as the heat produced was dispersed to the air through the sides and the back of the vehicle, melting through any unshielded targets. Although it was mobile, it couldn't beat Mako in this category.

For scouting, reconnaissance and flanking maneuvers, Carvins have designed the fast Lightning-class Scout Vehicle, which is basically a Y-shaped 3 wheeled car. Its small arsenal consists of two rapid fire laser turrets which can be effectively used against lightly armored infantry, but prove to be useless against any types of vehicles or armored combat suits. But the main role of this vessel is quick gathering information. With its impressive speed of over 120 km/h on flat terrain and about 50 km/h on hills, it can outmaneuver any vehicle that tries to take it down. Its main weakness is the low durability. To gain such impressive speed, Lightning is not equipped with shields and its armor is graded to be on infantry level. This means that they can be easily disabled by grenades, rockets or even sustained fire from small arms.

Carvin mechanized infantry makes use of the universal All Terrain Troop Transport, ATTT for short. This vehicle moves using its 8 giant wheels and can hold up to 16 Carvin soldiers. It's two doors on both sides of the vehicle fold, letting the troops in or out of the vehicle. It also has a massive door at the back, which is reinforced with additional armor. With three ways in and out of the vehicle, the ATTT can quickly load and unload the friendly soldiers. ATTT is armed only with small anti-infantry grenade launcher for self-defense, but has installed jamming device as well, preventing the nearby units from detection.

Carvins also make an extensive use of artillery. Their main vehicle that fits that role is Carvin Mobile Artillery Platform, CMAP for short. This vehicle can function in two modes - one, in which it moves like a hovercraft but lacks any offensive or defensive capabilities, and another in which it is stationary on its three legs and can use its main gun. The shells have three types - anti-infantry, anti-armor and ion.

As the main combat troop transport Carvins utilize the bulky Combat Aerial Troop Transport, CATT for short. This vehicle has its own small ion reactor to meet the expectations of multiple devices installed onboard. Its A-shaped hull with two big wings is protected by reantanium armor and a shield generator. It has two massive doors on both flanks that fold as the vehicle wants to unload its cargo, just like with the ATTT. The armament consists of a chin-mounted rapid fire laser turret, two concussion missile launchers mounted on two gigantic wings of the vessel, and two anti-infantry laser turrets mounted on both sides of the ship, just behind the cockpit. Both of them were automated and controlled by VI. Ship could be used both as troop and supply transport. Due to the fact that Carvins have wings, these ships don't necessarily need to land to unload the troops. They could also serve as gunships. It was also modified into a vehicle transport variant - CAVT, which could carry Hunter tanks using magnetic grips at the expense of firepower. Both variants were equipped with comm jammers and life support systems, therefore it can function in vaccum without anihilating its passangers. But because of the bigger mass and multiple systems installed, CATT and CAVT have reduced speed and mobility. This makes them stick out of the crowd in this category from other Carvin vessels.

 **Training**

Carvin training is long and harash. All of the Carvin civilians go through 2 years of survival, self-defense and weapon usage at the age of 10. Standard training for all military personel, from a foot soldiers to a maintenace crew, go through 6 years of military training, before being able to be deployed. Some soldiers are assigned to specialized programs and their training is extended by another 2 years, during which they go through additional training based on their speciality. Those include - shock troops, riot control troops, commandos and biotics. The last ones are incredibly rare so far. Carvins train in harash enviroments and attend to training facilities on usually uninhabitable planets to test themselves in brutal enviroment. Many families just teach their children (and potential future recruits) of self defense like any other skill like reading, writting etc.

 **Unique technical advantages**

While Carvin weapons do not deal quite as much damage as the physical projectiles utilized by the other Milky Way races, they are easier to aim, because of the speed of the energy bolts, and can penetrate traditional kinetic barriers with ease, bypassing most of the defense.

Some of the Carvin equipement might have severely underpowered damage, but makes up with extreme modularity and space for modifications that fit certain conditions.

 **Biology**

Carvins are born to be predators. Even the moment they get out of the egg, they can see freerly in standard, infrared and ultraviolet frequencies of light in addition to already formidable eyesight, making any traditional camouflage useless. Their physical traits are enhanced in a way that allows them to hunt and kill effectively. Their superior hearing and smell allows them to detect the threat long before it occurs or can use it to track and hunt down any enemy that comes up against them. Carvins are given cybernetic implants on all of their limbs and their tail, which enhances their physical capabilities furthermore. Because of the fact that Carvins are almost completely identical, it allows to create an efficient supply line and the equipement can be easily standarized. Possessing an almost completely impenetrable immune system makes them resistant to most kinds of poison. They can also produce their own with the special poison glands that can transport the poison through the bony darts which can be launched on the distance of 20 m. Rage allows Carvins to become almost completely invincible as long as critical organs are intact. That makes them brutal adversaries when it comes to close-quarter combat and seemingly unbeatable in melee 1v1 combat, due to their combat endurance, strength and agility. Also Carvins were known to eat their enemies if they were runnining shor on the food supplies, or just to demoralize their enemies.

 **Impact of the previous conflicts**

The most influential factor that had an impact on the Carvin Ground Forces was unsurprisingly The Great Grox War. This event has made every Carvin willing to sacrifice their lives for a something bigger. Sometimes a few squads stay on the front lines, delaying the enemy while the others escape. They do not intend to go back nor surrender to the enemy. During The Great Grox War, Carvins have realized how dangerous can be poorly pacified population - they were the proof. Because of that, every occupied planet recieves a few batallions of shock and riot control troops. Cybernetically enhanced Brutes are also deployed to help track the resistance civilians. Following this doctrine, Carvins will give only one chance for any hostile forces to surrender each month. If someone doesn't surrender in time, they will be designated as hostiles and will be terminated on sight, or will need to wait until the end of the month to surrender. Unarmed hostiles CAN be reconsidered to be transported to 'resistance surpression camps', but if they are, they are placed under observation. Any inappropriate behaviour will result in death. Carvins are known for the incredible effectiveness of their guerrilla strikes that were necessary to perform during The Great Grox War. Their physiology and harash training makes them perfect hunters during such operations.

 **COMPARISON OF THE SPECIES**

To make things even, I will now shortly describe all of the following factors, but in the Turian Military. I will be brief, because most of these things you can read on Mass Effect Wiki.

 **TURIAN NAVY**

 **Overview**

Turian Navy is so far the biggest naval force in the Milky Way galaxy. They possess 39 dreadnoughts by 2185, but unlike Carvins, who focus mostly on bigger and complicated projects, they produce more of standard ships. Because of that, overall numbers of Turian Navy are significantly bigger than those of Carvin Navy.

 **Naval Doctrine**

Turians don't believe in the effectiveness of guerilla strikes. In their opinion the big battles are the events in which they should crush the enemy utterly, which is why their fleet is designed to perform such missions. It is big and it is prepared for high casualties on the battlefield. Dreadnoughts are deployed in the most crucial battles, which is why their cruisers are the backbone of their fleet.

 **Technology**

Turians base their weapons on the mass effect technology. An element zero, subjected to an electrical current, generates a dark energy field in which it can increase or decrease the mass of all objects within. Because of that, heavier projectiles can be accelerated to much greater velocities as their mass is lower. But what still limits all of the weapons based on the mass effect technology is recoil as these weapons produce recoil equal to their impact energy. In space there is nothing to help decrease it, which is why the biggest ships are built around 1000 meters in length. After the recent events of the Battle of Citadel, Turians also started using Thanix cannon on their frigates and fighters. The molten alloy (composed of iron, uranium and tungsten), suspended in an electromagnetic field and powered by element zero, is fired effectively every 5 seconds and solidifies as it leaves the ship. Because of the incredible amount of heat and radiation contained in this projectile, it can make a frigate rival a cruiser with its firepower.

To protect their starships, vehicles and soldiers, Turians use 'kinetic barriers'. These are repulsive mass effect fields that can stop any physical projectiles if provided enough energy to counter the kinetic energy of the incoming projectile. Anything above certain speed will be stopped, allowing for protection from mass accelerators or any projectile based weapons, but still letting a person sit, eat and perform basic functions. Although kinetic barriers cannot stop energy-based weapons, heat or radiaiton.

As the means of FTL travel, Turians use the same technology of mass effect fields. Element zero core is exposed to a negative electrical current and therefore creates a mass effect field that decreases the mass of the ship within. Because of that, the ship can use its normal sub-light thrusters to accelerate the ship to FTL speed without causing time dillation. Normal FTL drives can make a ship travel a dozen light years per day. Although this is not enough to move through such big galaxy as the Milky Way. That's why Turians use Mass Relays to move through the galaxy. Relays create virtually 'mass-free' corridor through which ships can move from one relay to another. This created efficient 'highways' for ships to move through, but also limited the general galactic space available to explore. Destroying a mass relay meant anihilation of the system it was in and also reducing the mobility of all fleets through the particular sector.

For sublight travel, Turians use two basic fuels for their thrusters. These are either antiproton (antimatter drive) for cruisers and larger ships, or Helios Thruster Module on frigates and fighters. Note that these two fuels can both be used on the same ship, with Helios to be a backup fuel.

 **Warships**

The biggest Turian vessel is the Turian dreadnought. The name of the class is not given. Turian dreadnought is 1156 meters in length. (A/N: I do not have all the data on these ships so if you think I'm wrong, let me know.) Its main mass accelerator is 800 meters long and can accelerate 5 kg slug to a velocity of 4035 km/s (1.3% of the speed of light) every 2 seconds. Its broadside guns are used in close-quarter combat and can fire relatively every 2 seconds, but lack the firepower of the main gun. For the purpose of this comparison, I'm going to say that Turian Dreadnoughts had 8 of such guns each side, which equals 16 emplacements in total. All of the projectile guns are in fixed positions to allow greater projectile acceleration. As point-defense, turians use standard GARDIAN system functioning on infrared frequencies. These are short-ranged turrets, but extremely effective at taking out starfighters and missiles. Constant use can burn out the laser, if the heat is not dispersed. Turian Dreadnoughts also possessed their own hangar bay from which they could launch fighters armed with disruptor torpedos, or interceptors.

Turian cruisers are the backbone of the Turian Navy. They are usually 535 meters in length and serve as patrol vessels across the Turian space. They often lead flotillas of frigates against pirates or other enemy flotillas. While their main gun is not quite as powerful as the one of the dreadnought, it still can pack a punch against other ships and fires every 2 seconds. They also possess broadside guns for close-quarter engagements, which are as powerful as those of the dreadnought. For this simulation I'm going to give them 5 guns each side, 10 overall. As the poin-defense weaponry, they utilize the GARDIAN system as well. Because they are not as big as its Alliance counterparts, they are far more maneuverable, while saving most of their firepower. Cruisers also possess enough space to fit some starfighters inside.

While turian cruisers are smaller and more maneuverable, turian frigates seem to be quite opposite. They are 317 meters in length and carry a Thanix cannon as a main armament. It can fire effectively once for 5 seconds, giving it a firepower of a cruiser. It is only a bit slower than its Alliance counterpart, but the bigger hull allows for bigger engines and bigger eezo core after all. They possess a sophisticated sensor systems and an advanced GARDIAN weapon emplacements, making it perfect at screening the larger ships from starfighters. They also utilize Javellin missile launchers, which are basically bigger, better and meaner disruptor torpedos. Such firepower on such small ship also makes it perfect for taking out vulnerable ships that lost their shields or at least got them damaged enough. Maneuverability of these ships allows them to safely fly through enemy formations which utilize projectile-based weapons, as it is almost impossibl to predict where will they be after the shot is fired. Frigates carry a squad of infantry for ground operations and can land on the planets unlike the other ships.

Taking an example from humans, turians built their own spacecraft carriers that use starfighters as their main armament. These ships are 901 meters in length and (for purpose of this simulation) carry about a 1000 starfighters. The flight deck of this ship, where the spacecraft is stored, is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. Because of that, it can be easily damaged by a well placed torpedo. Turian carriers are known to possess some kind of GARDIAN defense, although its role is to rather scare off any enemy fighters that come close than destroy them.

 **Spacecraft**

Turians also utilize two types of spacecraft - fighters and interceptors.

Turian fighters carry only one armament - the disruptor torpedos, which are designed to fly past the enemy ship's kinetic barriers and then take out their shield generators, allowing for the bigger ships to damage them. They didn't possess any barriers by themselves and overall didn't have other defensive capabilities. Because of that they were armored to withstand light attacks from enemy spacecraft, but not from GARDIAN defenses. As their main propulsion system, turian fighters utilized two helium-3 powered thrusters which granted impressive speed needed to quickly hit and flee from the bigger vessels. Unlike the Carvin spacecraft, Turian fighters could jump into FTL.

Turian interceptors' role was as simple as their name. They were used to intercept enemy spacecraft and keep it from launching their own disruptor torpedos at their warships. They weren't shielded, but carried a modest armament of two rapid firing thanix cannons. These weapons could fire small projectiles made of iron uranium and tungsten alloy, which could obliterate enemy fighters with their kinetic energy and incredible heat. The interceptors themselves were unshielded and just like the fighters, they were armored to make up for that weakness. And just like their fighter cousins they used two helium-3 fueled thrusters for sublight travel and can travel in FTL speed.

 **Unique technical advantages**

Because the Thanix cannon was reverse-engineered and designed by Turians, only they have access to this weapon on mass scale by the year 2185.

Working closely with Salarians has provided turians with significantly more advanced cyber-warfare software.

 **Unique biological advantages**

Turian sight has developed to be sharper than that of the most races of the Milky Way, therefore allowing them for more precise aiming.

 **Impact of the previous conflicts**

After the Krogan Rebellions, Turians have become the main peacekeeping force in the Citadel space. That allowed them for increased developement of their navy and therefore making it the biggest naval organization of the Milky Way. But as the Krogan Rebellions progressed, Turians have faced significant losses. During the battle of Digeris, a Turian colony, they have ultimately won, but lost many ships in attempts to take out three Krogan dreadnoughts. After this battle Turians were even more eager to fight their adversaries face-to-face and crush their war machine completely. That proved to be extremely ineffective and later led to the use of genophage. This showed a great inflexiblility of turian command when it came to changing tactics based on the current situation. On the positive side of things, Turian commanders are excellent in quickly making good plans and dislike risky operations.

 **TURIAN GROUND FORCES**

 **Overview**

Because of the facts that every single turian goes through 1 year of training and that Turians are a military race overall, their ground forces are pretty large. Having many soldiers at their disposal, Turian Military can cover almost any manpower needs without much trouble. Its main feature that distinguishes them from other races is their discipline. Turians don't flee and their units don't break, making a formidable adversary when it comes to ground combat.

 **Military Doctrine**

Turians don't believe in the effectiveness of the guerrilla strikes, mobile warfare and supply cutting strategy used widely by Humans, Salarians or Asari. Instead they prefer to fight the enemy in large battles and obliterate their forces completely. Their command is decentralized and individual units can request air support. Turians practice combined arms which don't need to be explained.

 **Technology**

For their ground weapons, turian use the same, but smaller versions of the mass effect based weapons. But this time the projectiles are smaller and can be made directly on the field from the materials available using only the special devices installed on the soldier's omni-tool. The projectiles are designed to squash or shatter upon impact to deal greater damage. The only thing that is limiting the weapon during the engagement is heat. These weapons produce massive amounts of heat and it needs to go somewhere or else it can make the weapon completely inoperatable. All Milky Way races (except the Carvins of course) use thermal clips to completely absorb the heat from the weapon. When the clip cannot contain anymore heat, it needs to be removed by the gun's user to make space for new clip. Clips are universal to all weapons, but you cannot wait for the gun to cool down by itself, which is making thermal clips the equivalent of old-fashioned ammo clips, effectively reducing the ammo available on the battlefield.

 **Armor and protection**

Turians use the same means of protection for their soldiers as other races of the Milky Way. The first line of protection lies in their kinetic barriers. These barriers stop any physical projectiles that travel above certain speed, but cannot protect the user from heat, radiation or other enviromental or biological hazards. That's where the body armor comes in. These can be sealed to protect the wearer from vaccum of space, enviromental hazards or melee weapons. The non-flexible parts are reinfored with ceramic plating allowing for furthermore increased protection from projectiles.

 **Small arms**

As the standard issue rifle, Turians use the Phaeston assault rifle. This automatic piece of weaponry can carry a number of thermal clips allowing for 300 shots without collecting any additional clips. It packs stronger punch than its size would suggest, but is heavier than the popular M-8 Avenger, widely used in most of the armies. Due to its high fire rate it can be very useful in performing suppressing fire or while fighting in close quarters.

Because Turians are not known to produce their own sidearm and are usually seen wielding the popular M-3 Predator pistol, it will be considered their standard issue sidearm for the purpose of this simulation. This heavy pistol has gained popularity both in many armies or security forces and in the criminal underworld. It has surprisingly high firing rate for a heavy pistol while dealing significant damage. It is most effective in taking down shields and barriers. It can fire up to 60 shots with all thermal clips without picking up any extra clips.

 **Support weapons**

For their main anti-vehicle weapon, Turians utilize the ML-77 missile launcher, manufactured by the Armax Arsenal. It can be effective both against armored enemies or vehicles and groups of lightly armored infantry. It deals increased damage to kinetic barriers, biotic barriers and armor. Overall it is just a small rocket launcher that can fire guided missiles to destroy the targeted enemies. No other Turian support weapons are known.

 **Assault vehicles**

To fight large groups of infantry and support their own formations in battle, Turians use the Jiris Infantry Fighting Vehicle. This hovercraft was armed with missile launchers which had range of about 20 killometers. While not much is said about this vehicle, but for the purpose of this simulation, it will be given a rapid fire turret to deal with masses of infantry. It is said to be designed to fight infantry and therefore it is not equipped with armor capable of withstanding massive firepower of a standard tank. Jiris Infantry Fighting Vehicle could also serve as a mobile artillery unit due to its short-ranged rockets.

As their main tank, Turians use C77 Tyrus. Nothing is said about this vehicle except that it weights 13 tons and could withstand an explosion caused by a bomb made of two artillery shells. For this simulation it will be given my stats (I'll try to be fair). The main armament of Tyrus is the turreted 164mm mass accelerator, which packs a stronger punch than that of the M35 Mako and fires effectively once every 3 seconds. For anti-infantry defense, it carries a coaxial-mounted machine gun which is able to tear through any personal kinetic barrier within a second and turn unshielded infantry into swiss cheese. It also possesses extremely heavy armor and strong kinetic barrier. All of these offensive and defensive capabilities come at the expense of speed and maneuverability. The vehicle is not a demon of speed and is easily outperformanced by the other Turian vehicles. Nontherless the sheer damage it can deal and take makes it extremely dangerous on the battlefield.

As the main transport vehicle for the mechanized infantry, Turians use an APC variant of M-080. It is not equipped with any weapon system, but can provide quick troop transport from point A to point B on almost every terrain and can act as a mobile radar station and first aid point. It can transport up to 20 soldiers and has medium armor.

For air support Turians use the A-61 Mantis Gunship. Its chin-mounted mass accelerator autocannons can make short work of enemy infantry and the two rocket launchers mounted on both of the gunship's wings can be used to destroy larger groups of infantry or armored vehicles. The Mantis' design is incredibly versatile. It can serve as a gunship, a fighter, a high-altitude bomber or even a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, which is able to engage enemy fighters on the orbit of the planet. Although it does not possess an FTL drive and therefore cannot travel between the systems by itself.

 **Training**

Each Turian citizen goes through one year of basic training at the age of 15 after which is assigned to a field unit and then serve till 30th birthday. After that they become a part of the Reserves. Then they can stay in the army. Soldiers are taught discipline and maintaining basic firearms. Because of such strict training, Turian soldiers learn to stay calm under fire and not flee from the battle, even when it is considered lost. They do not flee unless ordered to.

 **Unique technical advantages**

Turians utilize the holographic drones that utilize the same hard-light construction as the omni-tools. That can clearly surprise the Carvins who have never confronted drones in such form.

Omni-tools can produce the silicon-carbide nearly diamond hard blades, forming what is commonly called omni-blades.

 **Biology**

Turian physiology is clearly showing that these species have evolved as predators. Their sharp claws are designed to tear through skin and flesh, but are of little effectiveness when it comes to armor. They also possess a thin thulium carpace, which appeared as a result of adaptation to the native enviroment of Palaven. But it proves to be ineffective as any sort of protection from weapons. Nontherless Turians are faster and have higher combat endurance than other races, yet still have a long way to go to match the Krogan. They can see in a greater spectrum of colors than most of the species, making most of the conventional camouflage useless.

 **Impact of the previous conflicts**

The Krogan Rebellions have defianetely hardened the Turian military. As the popular human saying goes: what does't kill you, makes you stronger. Turians emerged exhausted, but victorious from the Krogan Rebellions, despite the fact that their military and civilians took a real beating. They learned how to fight against many mean and tough brutes, who literally flood them with their numbers and didn't mind the casualties. Turians held their ground until the genophage was used and emerged victorious.

 **SIMULATION OVEVIEW**

Now Carvins will be put against Turians. I will first perform the simulation and then explain everything after that. Both militaries will clash in space while in the meantime will also try to gain control over the planet around which the space battle will occur. As a testing ground I will take a newly discovered star system that contains a habitable planet with both dextro and levo amino organisms - an entity incredibly rare in the galaxy. Its wildlife is mostly peaceful and the climate can be considered a humid paradise. To put it shortly - a perfect place for a colony for both levo and dextro species. Also because Carvins get the Assassin-class ship, Turians will gain help from the fully upgraded Normandy-Sr2. Take a note the simulation is happening in the year 2185 and that both of these races HAVE NOT met eachother yet (this is an AU situation).

Both factions mobilize their forces. Carvins have gathered a fleet composed of 1 Relentless-class Dreadnought, 6 Slicer-class Battlecruisers, 10 Blackstar-class frigates, 14 Ironhead-class corvettes, 2 Thunder-class Spacecraft Carriers and 1 Assassin-class ship. In addition they take 6 legions of ground troops along with mechanized, armor and artillery support (for the purpose of this simulation 1 legion equals 4000 soldiers). Turians mobilize a huge force composed of 3 dreadnoughts, 14 cruisers, 18 frigates and 2 carriers. For ground assault they take 5 legions of ground troops along with mechanized, armor and artillery support.

Now, let's begin...

 **SIMULATION**

 **Orbit**

Both fleets emerge on the two sides of the planet and both start to dispatch their ground forces. A few Carvin ships leave the formation and jump into FTL, which wasn't left unnoticed by the Turian commanders. 2 frigates, 3 corvettes and the Assassin-class starship were these ships. Transports fly safely towards the surface, while both fleets start to dispatch their starfighters. Because of the Carvin superior storing and launching, they managed to get all of their squadrons up faster than turians. Now swarms of starfighters are heading towards the Turian fleet. As turians finally managed to launch all of their fighters, Carvin spacecraft strikes. The X-126 quickly engage enemy interceptors, making way for their bombers. These attempt on making their attack run on several Turian cruisers. They launch their concussion missiles, but their payload is stopped in its tracks by the kinetic barriers of the Turian ships. GARDIAN system is working on its top performance, but because Carvin bombers don't need to get as close as their fighters and that they have energy shields, it is of little effect. Nontherless, Carvins maintain their spacecraft dominance among the enemy ships. Only few of the Turian fighters are able to break through and though they are quickly destroyed by the long-ranged point-defense turrets on Carvin ships.

Meanwhile both big fleets prepare to engage eachother. Turians, having bigger effective range start laying down artillery barrage with their ships, taking out 3 of the Ironhead corvettes and 1 Blackstar frigate. Carvin vessels immediately spread out in attempt to dodge the projectiles. 10 out of 18 Turian frigates leave the formation and head towards the main Carvin force. But carvin corvettes maintain their positions. Suddenly the mighty Relentless-class dreadnought and all of the Slicer-class cruisers start powering up their main guns. Turian ships are immediately loosening formation to dodge the attack, but they don't succeed. The Dreadnought has obliterated one of the Turian cruisers immediately, while those that were hit by the Slicer-class crusiers have suffered heavy damage. Turian frigates finally reach the Carvin formations, but are met with heavy fire from Carvin cruisers. The turbolasers of the latter manage to take down 3 frigates.

 **Ground**

Both armies land safely in a relatively the same moment. Carvin forces immediately send Lightnings to scout ahead for the potential threat, while the mechanized infantry and tanks move quickly behind them with CATTs acting as their air support. Normal foot soldiers quickly establish a line of encampments and 80% of their forces are marching to join the main assault, while the rest stays in the camps and prepare defenses in case of attack.

On the opposite side Turians do the same thing. 90% of all of their forces are marching towards the enemy while the rest stays behind and starts establishing fortified encampments in case of retreat of allied forces. The A-61 Gunships fly over the Turian forces providing air cover and looking for any sign of enemy aircraft. Suddenly the main Turian assault group is flanked by a few Lightning scout vehicles. The vehicles harrass the enemy forces for a while, but some of them are quickly destroyed by Turian heavy weapons or air support. The rest quickly retreat suffering even more casualties from the missiles fired by Turian Jiris vehicles.

But now Carvins knew where the Turians were located and could prepare themselves for the incoming enemy forces. Thanks to the superior natural speed they are first on their preferable battlefield. Their artillery was ready to fire on signal.

Meanwhile Turians have prepared everything that is necessary for their main assault, but still send in . They march slowly towards the location where Carvin forces were told to be. Finally the two sides spot eachother's troops and the firefight begins. Carvins, being able to easily penetrate the Turian kinetic barriers are decimating the infantry with ease. It was the armor that is difficult to deal with. Although the artillery is clearly helping in destroying the vehicles, Turians are still pressing the attack with the bulk of their armor, as the Carvin anti-vehicle weapons were severely underpowered and their tanks didn't possess enough firepower to effectively destroy the heavily armored Tyrus tanks. But then suddenly Turians find their forward vehicles alone, without the infantry cover. With superior speed and agility, Carvins start to press the advantage and manually take out the Turian armor with grenades and small arms. Turians use most of their heavy munitions from Jiris Infantry Fighting Vehicles to stall the Carvin advance and the battle soon takes the form of trench warfare.

 **Orbit**

As the battle on the orbit progresses, both fleets reduce the distance to eachother, which is rather on favour of the Carvins than Turians. The former have changed their bomber tactics and are now using ion torpedos to disable enemy ships, to then finish them off with conventional rockets with the help of already dominant X-126s. Turians lost 2 cruisers with such attacks. Meanwhile the frigates that directly engaged the Carvin formation suffer even more losses in form of 3 ships and are forced to join the Turian fleet as the turian spacecraft is heavy outnumbered and outperformanced by the Carvin X-126 interceptors.

Carvins also suffer heavy losses. They loose 1 Slicer-class Battlecruiser and 1 Blackstar-class frigate. Corvettes manage to dodge the enemy projectiles and now engage the enemy formation directly. While not as large in numbers, they are effectively protecting most of their spacecraft from enemy frigates.

A Turian request for help is quickly intercepted by the Normandy Sr-2 and after a few minutes a new ship is detected on Carvin scanners. This ship isn't like any other Turian ship, but when it began engaging their ships, they know that it is a new threat. Normandy Sr-2 is a lot more agile than any of the Turian frigates. It is also smaller, yet armed with a powerful Thanix cannon that manages to quickly take out 1 of the Ironhead corvettes engaged in battle against the Turian ships. That catches enough of the Carvin attention. Few squadrons of fighters are assigned to destroy or incapacitate the enemy ship. The X-126 immeidately start to pursue the Alliance frigate, but are met with a volley of heavy GARDIAN fire. Their shields are able to protect them from this fire to some extend and the fighters begin their attack at the large enemy thrusters that were the most crucial advantage of the ship.

With the help of Normandy Sr-2 Carvin spacecraft needs to pull its line of offense back only to the front cruisers. But as most of the Turian spacecraft is destroyed, some of the fighters and bombers are being redirected to the surface to reinforce the Carvin offensive. Carvin cruisers and the mighty Relentless-class dreadnought are using their energy beams to take out another 3 turian Cruisers, but loose another frigate and 1 corvette on their own.

 **Ground**

After a long moment, during which both armies are staying in one place, slowly yet relentlessly Carvins are pressing the attack on the Turian forces, using lightning fast pushes in different parts of the front line to maintain unpredictability. The latter maintain discipline and retreat while still laying traps and cover fire for the other retreating soldiers. Once for a while one of the gunship of both sides would fall on the battlefield, shot down by the opposite air force. Turian pilots, utilizing the agility and speed of their vehicles manage to successfully slow down the Carvin CATTs while at the same time support their ground troops quite effectively. It would seem that this would continue until the Turians reach their heavily fortified encampment, but suddenly another roar of engines is heard above the battlefield. Turian A-61 Mantis Gunships begin to fall off the sky with smoking holes inside them or already as wreckages. Carvin air support has arrived.

Explosions erupt on the Turian front lines, as the Carvin soldiers charge into the enemy entchentchments with their tanks and starfighters providing covering fire. At close range, Turians couldn't match Carvins and are quickly anihilated by the enraged Brutes or normal foot soldiers. Turian forces rapidly retreat to their camp under constant fire from both ground and air, chased and flanked by the Carvin mechanized infantry and armor, which leads to even more casualties. As they reach their last line of defense, Their numbers consist of 1/3rd of the original force, with most of the armor and air support destroyed. Carvins methodically start to surround the enemy using their mechanized infantry, while at the same time laying constant artillery fire on the enemy. As the encirclement is complete, they strike fast on multiple positions under cover provided by their spacecraft and gunships. Not being able to withstand such firepower, one by one Turian defenses collapse as the circle gets smaller and smaller. As there is only over a few dozen soldiers left, Carvins stop firing and send in the Brutes and enraged soldiers to finish the job. Recording all the footage, Carvin soldiers calmly look as Turian troops are getting decapitated, with the smell of blood pleasing all of them. Finally all of the turians are anihilated and Carvins send the demoralizing footage to the Turian fleet.

 **Orbit**

Situation is looking pretty bad for the Carvins. They lost another 2 Ironhead corvettes and the Relentless-class dreadnought has took significant damage with most of its weapon systems being inoperable. Turian forces are now pressing the attack in hope to crush Carvins utterly and not let them flee. Fortunately, Carvin bombers manage to disable and then destroy another 2 cruisers. Carvins realize that it is time for their backup.

As Turian cruisers and dreadnoughts are slowly flying forward in order to reduce their distance from the Carvin forces, they detect a few sudden radiation pulses behind them. But before they know what is it, 5 ships immediately open fire on the cruisers that were covering the back of the Turian fleet. They quickly get close to their targets and unleash deadly barrage of laser bolts, resulting in fast destruction of 2 turian spacecraft carriers, that were staying at the back of the Turian fleet, and 1 cruiser.

Turian forces attempt to retaliate, but suddenly both Carvin and Turian sensors, comms and tracking devices are filled with static or are being disabled completely. As the static becomes louder, a small ship uncloaks above the Turian dreadnought and fires a single shot that immediately takes out the mightly ship. The static is silenced and tracking devices are back online as the Assassin recloaks and vanishes from all scanners.

Turian fleet is in chaos after that, but their commanders maintain cold blood and thanks to the formidable discipline of their troops, the fleet returns to formation and all of the frigates return to the fleet to fight the newly arrived Carvin warships, while the remaining cruisers keep laying fire on the rest of the Carvin fleet. Because of the sudden concentrated firepower, Carvins loose 1 Slicer Battlecruiser and 1 Blackstar frigate, but manage to take out 3 enemy frigates.

Both fleets were exhausted. Both sides have used up all of their tricks. Suddenly a two messages are sent from the surface of the planet: one to Turians about the lost battle on the surface with the footage of Carvins slaughtering the Turians, and one to the Carvins about the victory. Two commanders of both fleets contact eachother while the battle still continues. They agree to stop the fight as none of the fleets would succeed without loosing over 95% of their ships. The battle was over.

 **CONCLUSION**

So that's how I ended the simulation. Carvins won on the ground and the space battle ended up with a tie. Because these two militaries are equally strong in space, I decided for them to have a ceasefire instead of them slaughtering themselves till the last ship. I think both Carvin and Turian fleet commanders wouldn't forgive themselves such act :). OK, back to the conclusion...

While Carvin military doctrine is very flexible, it fails to excel in any direction. Turians have one doctrine, which can be effective in some scenarios and sometimes not. Carvins started at a disadvantage at the beggining because they didn't reveal all of their potential, but surprising the Turians gave them an edge over the enemy. Also, their use of spacecraft was really helpful in this battle. On the ground Carvins could easily tire the Turians by simply holding positions, as their soldiers, vehicles and equipment overall had impressive combat endurance. The first encounter was clearly in favour for the Turians as they had the momentum and the stronger armor support. But they quickly found themselves without infantry cover as Carvins could easily take them out with standard weaponry, not minding the kinetic barriers. As the battle took form of trench warfare, Carvins needed to do nothing but keep positions and wait for the Turians to come to them. But the doctrine and the tactics weren't the thing that won the land engagement...

Both Carvin and Mass Effect technologies have strengths and weaknesses. Carvin 'projectiles' traveled at the speed of light, but at the same time had shorter effective range. Turians were the exactly opposite. Their projectiles were almost 100 times slower than Carvin, but their weapons didn't loose their power with distance. Carvin weapons were dealing less damage per shot, but their turreted armament allowed them for more consistant damage. Turian weapons were dealing incredibly higher damage, but it highly depended on their aim and the maneuverability of the enemy ships. Thanix cannon is another thing though. Most of its destructive potential comes from the incredible heat that its ammunition possesses. This could be easily countered by the Carvin energy shields, which were made to counter such threats. On the ground the Turians and Carvins had relatively the same damage per shot/bolt. But with the Carvins capable of seamlessly penetrate the Turian kinetic barriers, they have the advantage. Of course some of their anti-vehicular equipment was severely underpowered, but it was somehow balanced by the Carvin Hunter tanks which indeed fired energy bolts. Turians on the other hand had very powerful anti-armor weaponry, but because of the fact that most of their weapons required thermal clips or ammo, their effectiveness was reduced.

Analysing the shields and armor was a difficult thing, but let's focus on the shields first. Carvins could stop the Turian attacks to some extend, while the Turians could not stop most of the Carvin weaponry. Most powerful Carvin anti-ship weapons (concussion missiles used by bombers) were effectively countered by the kinetic barriers, but standard energy weapons passed right through it. On the other hand, Carvins COULD to some extent stop the turian weaponry, but their shields were easily overloaded with such armament. And because of the fact that Carvin shields are made to stop constant fire of low-energy bolts/projectiles, not random but strong strikes, these two forms of defense are evenly matched.

Armor is another thing. Turian ablative armor was made to stop the energy bolts fired from GARDIAN system at close range. It was meant to evaporate from the main armor and take the energy with it. But GARDIAN lasers weren't very powerful and were usually used to counter spacecraft (and still being not 100% lethal). Nontherless, it still managed to stop SOME of the damage dealt by the Carvin laser turrets. On the opposite side of things, all of the Carvin ships utilized the reantanium armor. It provided excellent protection from the projectile-based threats (slugs, asteroids, scrap, torpedos, etc.) and greatly increased hull integrity overall. But because of this, a slug accelerated to high speed, could literally knock back the ship a bit. Although it could be easily countered by the ship's engines, it had a disruptive effect on the vessel and the crew inside it (it feels like an earthquake inside :D). Overall, these armors are made to protect the ships from completely different threats, but I'd say that Carvins have a slight edge in this category.

Engines of both sides are relatively the same strengths, with only few exceptions on particular types of ships. The need of refueling the ship would be influential on the battle's outcome only in the scenario of a full-scale war. Carvin ships have their own ion reactors that provide energy for the ion engines which are surprisingly efficient. Turians on the other hand use fuel and therefore their ships would need to refuel to keep them operational. During this battle scenario however, none of the factions got any edge over eachother in this category.

Warships were the ones that were participating in the battle and their design, power, endurance and goodness overall had a big impact on the final outcome.

Carvin dreadnought was almost 3 times bigger than its Turian counterpart. It was also meaner, stronger and tougher, which let it survive the whole battle, despite severe damage. Its main gun could take out a cruiser in one shot, but because it was an energy weapon, it suffered from diffraction and therefore was loosing its potential on the longer distances. Its secondary armament was also impressive and this ship, being bigger than Sovereign, could literally ram into enemy ships (it didn't however). Turian dreadnoughts were smaller (only over 1 km long) and less durable, but were a lot more agile and maneuverable overall. Their damage was only a bit lower than the Carvin dreadnought's, but could easily overload Carvin energy shields. But without the sufficient close-ranged armament, it wouldn't stand a chance against Carvin ships.

Carvin Slicer-class Battlecruiser utilized the same energy beam emitter like on the dreadnought (just scaled down) and could do enormus amount of damage with it. But it lacked sufficient point-defense system for a ship of its size. Luckily for those vessels, Turian spacecraft didn't have a chance to get close enough to launch their disruptor torpedos. Nontherless it was a very powerful vessel, which could take on almost any ship that Turians would send agains it and stand victorious, besides a dreadnought (and maybe a carrier with a lot of starfighters). Turian cruisers were about 200 m smaller than Slicer, but were more agile and maneyverable, just like their dreadnoughts. Their main gun could deal impressive amounts of damage, despite being shorter than that of the Alliance cruisers. It also had impressive amount of GARDIAN weapon emplacements. But its hull integrity is also lower because of the small size.

Carvin Blackstar-class frigates and Turian frigates have relatively the same roles to fulfill - providing anti-spacecraft cover and support for the other ships, but both ships have carried out the role differently. Carvin frigates, due to their size, usually stay in formation and provide direct support for their cruisers, while their Turian counterparts speed through enemy formations and hunt for the vulnerable warships, while at the same time destroy enemy spacecraft with their sophisticated GARDIAN systems. Turian frigates are a lot smaller than Carvin and therefore can use their incredible speed to maneuver between the enemy warships while being almost invulnerable to any projectile-based weaponry.

Turians don't really use corvettes in battle, as they usually have less than 10 crewmembers onboard and they are so small, that it is just better to use starfighters. Carvins on the other hand have a variety of tasks designed for corvettes specifically. Because Carvin Ironhead-class corvettes are basically Turian equivalents of frigates, they can speed through enemy formations and harass bigger ships and enemy spacecraft. They are perfect for hunting for escaping vessels and screening allied forces from the ships of the same size.

Carriers were invaluable during this simulation and their performace influenced the performace of the starfighters as well. Carvin carriers could carry around 1400 starfighters overall. Turian carriers could carry around 1000 starfighters due to their smaller size. Because of the fact that the carrier's defenses in both factions are designed to rather scare away the enemy than to fight him directly, their weapon systems won't be taken into consideration, as both carriers are incredibly fragile targets on the battlefield. Carvin carrier has several hangar bays instead of just one and therefore can deploy the starfighters faster than its Turian counterpart. That's what gave the Carvins an upper hand at the beggining.

And last of the warships is the Assassin-class starship. Because the Turians do not possess their own counterpart of this ship, I'll discuss how useful it was during this battle. Assassin was known to be able to take out a cruiser-sized ships on one hit WITH its shields still online. Cruiser-sized ship for Carvins is a ship of approx. 700 meters. But because it had enough power to take out its shields AND still destroy the ship, there is no reason to think it wouldn't take out a Turian dreadnought, especially with the kinetic barriers completely useless against its main weapon.

Overall, Carvin ships are much better designed than Turian, resembling in some way Salarian warships. But it was the sheer size and damage output that let the Turian fleet hold its own and even push the Carvins back for a while.

Next we'll move to spacefighters and it is very uneven fight. Carvin X-126 interceptors, although bigger in size than Turian, could easily outperformance them with their superior weaponry, maneuverability (but not sheer speed) and defenses. Turian interceptors are known to have only two rapid-firing mass accelerators and nothing except that. Of course, they are much smaller than Carvin fighters because of that, but they are also very lightly armored and do not possess kinetic barriers. Carvin Incinerator bombers are clearly slower than Turian fighters, but that's because of the armament they are carrying. They have two heavy laser cannons (not the ship ones, just a heavy version of standard fighter cannons) mounted underneath the cockpit, two concussion missile launchers and one ion torpedo launcher. In addition to its already powerful armament, it had a rear gunner to protect the craft from enemy starfighters, and a shield generator. Turian fighters on the other hand are smaller, more maneuverable and just faster than Carvin bombers. Their only known armament are the disruptor torpedos, which are quite powerful weaponry by themselves, but extremely easy to intercept. Because of the need to penetrate the kinetic barriers of the enemy ship, the torpedos must be moving at very low speed, becoming easy target for hostile point-defense system, like GARDIAN. Overall, the Carvin starfighters are superior and because of the faster deployment, and performance on the battlefield.

Technical advantages of the Carvins surpassed those of the Turians, as most of the advantage of the latter was countered by Carvin equipment used. A lot of Thanix cannon's power lied in the heat and radiation its projectile contained. These threats were immediately absorbed and dispersed by the Carvin energy shield. While the Salarian cyber-warfare software was helpful, it needs to be taken into consideration that Carvins were indeed fighting a lot greater threats of this kind during The Great Grox War. Grox, being cyborgs themselves, could literally link into a system with their brains. After defeating them, Carvins have gained much of this technology, which boosted cyber-warfare defense greately, so there is a tie in this category. In addition, Carvin weaponry was turreted and could also perform orbital bombardment without completely obliterating the planet's surface. But because Carvins couldn't gain a space dominance, the latter advantage wasn't taken into consideration. Reantanium armor was already mentioned and the others are obvious.

Biological advantages are relatively the same, but given the Carvin big eyes and the ability to see both in ultraviolet and infrared spectrum, they win this category.

Both species also fought superior enemies in the past, but their enemies were stronger in completely different ways. The Grox had a fleet matching the size of the Carvin fleet at that time, but their ships were incredibly high-quality vessels, that could easily go up against anything that Carvins threw at them. They were methodical with their strategy in space. Krogan on the other hand were using their superior numbers and firepower to overwhelm the enemy fleets and destroy them utterly, in this case Turians. There was almost no strategy in it. On the ground they were more similar however. Grox were using the Dronox - an army of mindless clones, controled by the chips in their brains. They were equipped with medium-quality armament to subdue the resisting forces through sheer numbers and firepower. There were several variants of the Dronox (like Insectorox, which was tough and was best at melee combat), but they were also utilizing many vehicles which could overpower anything that Carvins put against them at that time. Krogan were using similar strategy. Their army was significantly larger than the Grox, but their weapons were low-quality and their forces lacked coordinated armor and fire support, which Grox possessed. However the Krogan troops were way tougher than the Grox and could withstand over 5 times more firepower than standard Dronox. It is also worth noting that Carvins did in fact manage to achieve multiple victories on the ground and if the anti-matter bomb wasn't dropped during the defense of Tralavaan, the Carvins would've easily defeated the remaining Dronox and start liberating the surface from the occupation. Summing this up, Carvins fought a very organized force which was equally strong in numbers in space, but clearly outmatching them in ground combat. Their enemies also had superior equipment and technology which was almost completely alien to them. On the opposite side of things, Turians were forced to fight an overwhelming force that attacked in masses, without a set strategy. Despite many defeats, Turians couldn't adapt their tactics and strategies to counter the seemingly endless hordes of Krogan, EVEN with the support of Asari and Salarians, which then led to using the genophage and sterilizing the Krogan.

Now we'll move strictly to the ground encounter.

Standard small arms of both factions have relatively the same damage per shot/bolt, but Carvins suffer damage reduction as the distance increases. On the other hand, Turians are limited by thermal clips that are basically functioning like old-fashioned ammo clips - you run out, you can't fire. This had a great impact on the ground battle, as Turians would find themselves out of ammo, while Carvins could still shoot. Carvin energy bolts were also traveling at the speed of light, which meant that it was almost impossible to dodge them, unless the weapon was aimed poorly. Turian weapons had a speed limit as the velocity of the projectile depended on the length of the mass accelerator.

Secondary weapons there was the same thing like with the starships, only reversed this time. Carvin revolvers had a higher damage output, but their fire rate was lower. Turian Predator pistols dealt less damage, but their fire rate was clearly superior. Although Carvin revolvers could be set in 'shotgun mode' and therefore were excellent at close-quarter to melee combat. Overall, Carvin ground infantry weaponry was a bit superior than that of the Turians due to the modularity and the ability to deal more sustained damage without ammo limitations.

In the category of support weapons, Turians won defianetely as their weapons, being projectile-based, could easily overload Carvin energy shields. Carvin equipment was severely underpowered against the kinetic barriers and therefore couldn't support the infantry as effectively. And even though Carvins had more support weapon types, the universal design of Turian ML-77 won this category, despite the other designs of the Carvins.

Assault vehicle category was quite balanced as the vehicles had strengths and weaknesses that countered eachother effectively. The Jiris Infantry Fighting Vehicle, used by Turians could serve both as an anti-infantry light tank, but also a mobile artillery platform with its long-ranged missiles. The barrage unleashed by these vehicles managed to stop the Carvin counterattack as they took out most of the Turian infantry screening the heavy vehicles. Turian C77 Tyrus was basically a box made of armor with a gun on top (in a good meaning of that). It could tank a lot of damage dealt by Carvin forces, but without a proper infantry screen, it couldn't do much against multiple mobile foot soldiers. Nontherless, it could pack quite a punch against any vehicle Carvins threw against it. An APC variant of M-080 used as a mechanized infantry transport, was an effective troop transport, but lacked defensive armament that could protect it from enemy forces. These could be quickly destroyed on the battlefield by even a small squad of soldiers. The A-61 gunship was great both at supporting the ground troops and for air dominance as well. Its modular design let it hold the line against the bulky CATT used by Carvins and still support the ground troops. On the opposite side of things, the Carvin Hunter tanks were extremely effective at taking out groups of infantry and light vehicles, but had trouble fighting the heavy C77 Tyrus tanks. Fortunately, they were supported by infantry as Turians left them unprotected. It is also faster than its Turian counterpart, but not as heavily armed or armored. Nontherless it could easuly penetrate the kinetic barriers with its main gun. Lightning-class vehicles were expendable at the beggining, but they gave Carvins an edge over the Turians, as they knew precisely where their army was at that moment and therefore could predict when Turian forces would arrive. Their light armor made them easy to destroy, but with excellent speed, at least half of the vehicles managed to escape after gathering information about the Turian forces. ATTT utilized by the Carvins , due to its ability to quickly load and unload soldiers, was an impressive piece of machinery and even though it could load only 16 soldiers, it was only because Carvins are naturally bigger than Turians. Unlike the APC variant of M-080, ATTT had a small grenade launcher which could be used for supporting the attacking forces. It proved excellent at flanking, chasing and ultimately surrounding the retreating Turian forces, which led to the ultimate defeat of the latter.

When it comes to training, Turians have 1 year of basic training to then be assigned to a field unit and learn in the field. For the reason of this simulation we can say that they have 15 years of training before becoming a part of the Reserves. While there is no data on the specification of this training, there are no records on the training facilities comparable to those of Carvins. The latter pump a lot of resources in the facilities located in unstable or completely uninhabitiable enviroments for their soldiers to test themselves. And even though their training takes only 6 years, its a constant training with specific requirements for soldier to meet. Meanwhile learning in the fields, like Turians do, isn't bad (it is actually one of the best ways of learning), methodical training is always an advantage. I'm willing to say that these two ways of training are equal to eachother, but the next category will going to be a game changer for the whole simulation.

And this category is the biology. This is actually what mostly won the ground battle. Carvins are: faster, stronger, tougher and more unpredictable than the Turians. They also use their own wild nature to their advantage (Rage), enhancing their combat skills drastically. They can see in all known spectrums of light and their sight is also superior to that of the Turians. Being able to fight longer with roughly the same effectivness let Carvins absorb and withstand the long fight without exhaustion, which Turians couldn't do. Turian thulium carpace is proven to provide little to no protection from almost all weapons. Also the cybernetic implants used by the Carvins provided them with increased combat endurance, letting them withstand greater volley of fire, just like Krogan during the Rebellions. In addition, their cybernetic spiky tails could be a devastating weapon in melee combat, as the reantanium spikes could deal incredible amount of damage to even armored Turian soldier. It is also worth noting that Carvins had a greater amount of manpower at their disposal than Turians due to their effective reproductive system. Summing this up, I think that this particular category had a main influence on the outcome of the ground battle.

As a word of conclusion, the navies of both fleets are (in my opinion) equally matched, countering eachother's strengths and weaknesses. If the simulation was to last till the last ship was destroyed, there could be many outcomes, but the winners would've lost about 95% of their total fleet, which on the long run wouldn't be considered a victory. Although, due to the superior biology, adaptability and flexibility of their ground force, Carvins have won over the Turian forces.

Now I'd like to give a little teaser for the next chapter... I hope you enjoy :)

 **Normandy, Virox's POV**

Joker and I finished cleaning up the mess we've made during the attack. Now he was in the cockpit trying to actually process what happened. I didn't blame him. He could be shocked after this attack. After all, he didn't see much combat except from inside the cockpit of the Normandy, which was a stealthy vessel.

It was just me and the Deck 3. Empty and almost dead, except the humming sound of the reactor from the lower decks. Waiting for Shepard and the rest of the team to arrive.

"We will avenge them." I told myself with pure hate, but then caught myself on thinking that. Since when I became so... emotionally unstable?

'Maybe, after all these events, I finally went...' a thought on the back of my head kept bothering me, but I quickly shut it up. 'No! I am still sane. I was a bit crazy from the beggining, but I am still sane and fit for duty!'

Suddenly I realized how greatly I wanted to convince myself about that, yet without much of a success actually.

As I wanted to lock myself in the Main Battery and skip the inevitable meeting with Shepard and the Dancypants Latex Lady (Miranda), I heard a noise. It was coming from the med-bay.

'What the...' I thought as I could've sworn I cleaned up all the mess I've made while breaking the window. The noise didn't stop and as I finally peaked inside the med-bay, I saw something that had no reason or explanation to be there - a pair of painted Carvin helmets of Thaan and Shaan. My old squadmates. I blinked twice to check if I really gone mad, but the helmets disappeared as soon as I opened my eyes again. The noise was also gone. 'Something is wrong.'

I started to head back to the Main Battery, looking around on the walls of the hallway. Some of the big turbines, that I used for cover during the attack, still had a few black points that reminded me of the fight during which I almost died again. Suddenly I heard another voice again. It clearly sounded like Harbringer. He was laughing darkly in my head, even though he didn't have any possibility to influence my brain. And then an image blinked in front of my eyes for a fraction of a second as a reminder of my fight on the Collector ship. But this time it was a new image...

'Something is wrong with me.' I heard my own voice in my head as I couldn't hide it from myself for any longer. 'Shepard doesn't need to know. He can't find out. I cannot endanger the entire mission. It is going to be hard as it is and he needs to focus on other things.'

That calmed down my thoughts a bit, but the new image that blinked before my eyes was still a topic to discuss in my head. Since my close encounter with the Harbringer on the Collector Ship, I was having this kind of... hallucinations? I couldn't really describe it. These weren't visions. These weren't voices. This was... something else. They were happening less often and for some time I didn't have any kind of hallucination until now. Maybe it depended on the close proximity with the Collectors?

These images didn't make any sense though. Shepard told me that a Prothean beacon caused him to have visions of Reapers, but this was nothing like it. The images were showing completely different scenes, but often repeated eachother. From what I could recognize from them, I saw Carvins, Protheans and the Grox... in conflict against one another. This was defianetely in the past as Carvins that I saw didn't have cybernetics yet. But the last image I saw was different. It showed all of these races... fleeing from a giant Reaper that could only be Harbringer.

This didn't make any sense... Why would this damned Collector, or Reaper, target me with these hallucinations? What was the meaning of these images? Who... who are the Carvins?

That question made me stop in a middle of a step, which wasn't good as I lost balance. After regaining it, I started thinking more deeply. Carvins didn't evolve through these billions of years. Their genetic code was almost identical for each member of their species, with only major differences appearing between genders, while the other changes were so minor that they consisted of only slightly different heights, accents or behaviour. Overall they... WE were identical. There was no data of the Carvins PRIOR to their sudden apperance on the planet as animals. The derelict spaceship, found underground by the Carvin researchers (which by the way let them go to the stars) was giving even more questions...

And the statement of the Grox - We come here to reclaim what is ours...

They knew about us. They understood our way of thinking. We lost all of our military outposts outside the Carvistorn within first few days because they could predict our every move.

But there was one piece of the puzzle left - why? What was that thing that they wanted that we possessed and that forced them to attack us?

My jaw began to shake. I didn't know what was that, but it seemed like if I was enraged, yet at the same time completely calm. Was I really insane? Was I really having illusions about our origin. Was I even aware of what I was doing?

I didn't know...

 **A/N: OK, that took more words and time to write than it should. Also the last thing was a bit more than a 'teaser'. The longest chapter of my story so far is a mix of data and analysis (+ the thing at the end). I feel ashamed of myself. Anyway, I wanna let you know that I am currently in USA on vacation and I don't have much time to write. If you wanna look for me, feel free to do that, but I'm not going to give u any hints, except that I'm polish (although you probably couldn't care less). Let me know what did you think about the chapter and the analysis. Should I change something? Did I miss any data that could influence the outcome of the simulation? I'll try to make it right. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	15. INFO - short break

**Hey guys, Bonker here.**

 **So I have to announce a short break for the story The Fourth Galactic Power. I know what you're thinking but don't worry. I'm just away from my PC from which I can write and upload proper chapters. The break will last around 12 days and when I get back home I'll immediately finish the chapter that I already started. I also want to say that there will only be two more chapters to this story and then I will start making a new one, based on ME3.**

 **Carry on everyone!**

 **Bonker out!**

 **(PS: sorry that it's so simply and short. I had little time to write this and I'm uploading this from my phone)**


	16. Suicide Mission pt 1

**A/N: "10 DAYS! U SAID 10 DAYS!" "Where the heck is the chapter? I thought you wrote it was a 10 days break!" "DIRTY LIAR!" "You NOB! It was over a MONTH ALREADY!" I know that I am a total douche with that, but there were some things to attend to (like shopping before the school year, my sister's birthday and shitz like this), though I won't deny that there was some laziness in that too. I prefer writting longer chapters less frequently, because I feel that there are so many things that I haven't said and should have said, but whatever. You can blame my laziness for that, I'll take it all. Anyway after the Virox's experiences from the previous chapter, who knows what might happen during the Suicide Mission. Will he die? Will he survive? Will he be scarred 'till the rest of his life? Well, he will certainly survive, 'cuz there is still ME3 to go through, although maybe we should just dive right into the chapter. But first...**

 **REVIEWS**

 **Shadowhorror: I realy liked how long is the chapter i hope you continue to make them bigger :) and the comparison was great it gave alot of light about the military powers whit this mistery about the origin of carvins you can make them extra dimensional travelers so in future to continue the story in other universes :) it will be great to see carvins vs zerg or carvins vs halo and more the possibility is endless :) keep the good work :)**

 **As I wrote to you before, comparing militaries from different universes is hard as the technology used might be completely different (rather superior or inferior), but I like the idea with the Zerg. I actually thought about making a 'story' series in which I would compare the Carvin power to that of the other races from other games/movies, but I'm still thinking about it. Nontherless thanks for the idea.**

 **Good timeline (Guest): Nice race dude could do with more colour on the skin though also I like how you made all the ships it makes it easier to invision them lol I looked spore crossover for a laugh but saw how long this one was and was like well why the hell not? so far impressed little overpowered but no one wants to see their spore babies be weak am I right?**

 **YES! Finally someone who understands my way of thinking! Thanks for the complement, it really means a lot. Also, about the skin colour, I've made these creatures when I was like 10 years old and didn't know everything about the game. Still, I see your point. And yes, I want them to kick ass, because it's always better to kick ass than suck balls. Thanks for the good word again, man.**

 **Also, I wanna thank all of the readers that follow this story. It reached over 50 followers AND favorites. I'm happy that you like the story so far and if you have an idea for an improvement, don't be shy to let me know.**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Normandy SR-2, No-one's POV**

Shepard's shuttle was now docking at the deck 5, but no one came to welcome the squad. Lil' Anderson, who was on the mission as well, immediately darted out of the shuttle and started looking for any sign of life.

Others were also a bit anxious about this whole situation. EDI told them what happened, but they couldn't see Joker or Virox nearby. Both of them had their reasons to not be there, more or less convincing.

Joker was sitting in the comm room waiting for the inevitable talk with Shepard about the incident. He didn't like it at all. He screwed up and was fully aware of that. EDI warned him right before Collector ship appeared, but he didn't listen. He was too confident in his abilities and the Normandy. And now he was paying the price. Well, at least Virox survived too, though he was in a clearly worse state.

Carvin soldier was nervously walking around the main battery growling from time to time trying to calm his emotions down. He contacted the High General Council just before Shepard returned, and recieved the software he was promised. Then he passed it to EDI with a warning about the safeguards and quickly smashed the power button on her terminal afterwards.

'I failed. Again!' He was still beating himself up for loosing the crew. It would seem that he was in an endless cycle of gaining and loosing people close to him. First he lost his family, then he lost his squad. And now this.

Virox wanted to scream. He wanted to fight. To tear through the Collectors in a vengeful frenzy. For the first time since the Great Grox War, his seemingly invincible barrier of jokes and happiness broke down. He felt weak, while the anger SHOULD make him stronger... That's how it worked... usually at least.

Virox knew he had to keep his mental problems away from Shepard. From anyone. The others would tell the Commander and now they didn't have time for this crap. Collectors needed to be stopped and he didn't want to stay on their way to success.

But something... wild has awoken inside of him. Something old. Unknown yet familiar. That feeling was making him growl, punch and scratch the walls during random and uncontrolable bursts of emotions. He was hearing voices. Different voices. Some he recognize and some not. He defianetely was hearing Harbringer from time to time. There was also General Seviros, Garrus, Shepard, and a few other voices. But there was one that he found the most uneasy to hear. This voice was merely a whisper, yet was constantly stuttering as if the speaker was half organic and synthetic. It seemed to be speaking to his very instincts. Provoking them.

Finally Virox took a swing and punched himself in the face to come back to reality, as he could now hear the Normandy's elevator. The self-harm helped and he finally sighed with relief. He had an idea on how to get the emotions out of his head, without violently beating himself over and over. His hand went to the box that used to contain his new gear given by the Shadow Hunters. After a while, it grabbed what it needed. Virox grinned evily and took the paint sprays with pleasure. He never was much into art, but giving his current state, his art skills couldn't be worse than while being sane, right?

The armor he was wearing. The weapons he was carrying. Even each and every one of his knuckle blades. All of them were going to remind him of those he had lost and still needs to avenge.

 **Meanwhile, Joker's POV**

Well, that officially sucked. Shepard was already on his way to recieve my 'report' from the attack. Virox was nowhere to be seen, but I didn't want to bother him. He looked a bit odd when we finished cleaning up the deck 3.

I sighed as the door to the meeting room opened with a short hiss and Shepard came in. He didn't say anything yet, probably because he was alone and they were going to be joined by others. Shepard's dog started to walk around my legs for seemingly no reason, but

My instincts were right as Miranda stormed into the room shortly after followed by Jacob who was more calm than her.

"Everyone? You lost everyone and damn near lost the ship too?" she didn't wait for others to speak.

"I know, all right? I was here." I tried to calm her down a bit, but it turned out to calm me more than her.

"It's not his fault, Miranda. None of us caught it." thankfully Jacob was on my side this time.

"Mr. Taylor is correct." EDI added and I really started to like her by now. "The harmful data in the Collector drive was even more sophisticated than the 'black box' Reaper viruses I was given."

"I heard it was a rough ride." Shepard finally spoke. "How are you holding up?"

"There's a lot of empty chairs here." I didn't know what to say for a moment. Of course I was incredibly glad to be alive, but... we lost the crew. "Well, at least Virox managed to get through mostly unharmed."

"Speaking of whom, where is Virox?" Miranda asked curiously as he didn't come to the meeting. I understood this without any problem. This little chat was almost as big torture as watching everyone from the crew being abducted by the Collectors.

"Virox is currently in the main battery, although his constant disruption of my audio and video hardware makes me unable to tell what he is doing at the moment." EDI replied calmly. "I would suggest leaving him alone, as his behaviour after cleaning the ship was... unusual."

"Back to the topic." Shepard brought us back on track. "Is the ship clean? We cannot risk anything like this happening again."

"EDI and I purged the systems. The Reaper IFF is online. We can go through the Omega 4 relay whenever you want." I anwsered and silently begged in my mind. 'Please let's go now!'

"Don't even get me started about unshackling a damned AI." and there was Miranda being professionally grumpy again.

"Well, tell me then what could I do against the Collectors? Break my arm at them?" I snapped with irritation as I doubted that she would survive on the Normandy on her own like I did. "EDI cleared the ship. She's all right."

"I assure you that I am still bound by the protocols of my programming." EDI managed to defend herself alone just fine. "Even if I were not, you are my crewmates."

Shepard was silent for a moment, clearly analysing what he just heard. I really wantet him to agree with us. Miranda could be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

"EDI has had plenty of opportunity to kill us. We need all the help we can get." he finally anwsered and I let out an internal sigh of relief.

"It seems that we have everything we need to attack the Collectors and rescue the crew." Jacob said and I couldn't agree more. "I think we should go for it now to have the highest chance of success."

"Joker head back to the bridge." Shepard quickly looked at me and then turned towards the others. "The rest of you, to your stations."

"Aye aye, Commander." I saluted with a grin on my face. It was time for some payback against the Collectors.

 **Garrus' POV**

Seeing so many empty chairs was... depressing at least. Fortunately Shepard made an announcment that we will be going through the Omega 4 relay to rescue the crew. That was some sort of comfort.

I headed back to main battery to finish the final calibrations of our new gun and ask Virox about this whole thing. Surviving on your own against that many Collectors was quite an achievement.

As I opened the door, I saw something that was I would never expect to see.

"Uh, Virox?" I didn't know how to act now as it was so unexpected and unusual of him. "Since when you are into art?"

"Since today." he replied quickly and sharply, making me back off a bit. He didn't even turn around.

"Are you OK?" I asked. He was not behaving normally.

"Yes." he simply anwsered, which immediately proved that he was not. Usually, when someone would ask him that question, he would crack some jokes and come up with incredibly complicated anwser. Of course I knew that there was something off with his mental health from the beggining, but it usually manifested itself in completely opposite way. Instead of being quiet and sharp, he was always a cheerful and a bit sassy smartass. That was new.

I took a short look on his work now. He was taking off his armor plates on implants to then do the work with sprays. There was much of dark blue mixed with strong red colors. On his right shoulder plate I could see a black wolf from Earth, on the outer part of his hand there was about three blue stripes resembling scars from beast claws.

The left arm was almost completely covered in enscryptions in language that I didn't understand. Names I would say, knowing Virox's past. Some of them were highlighted with brighter colours, while others were defianetely scribed with a knife. Now he took off some of his chestplate to make it colorful.

"Really? Seems that you are exactly opposite." I laughed hoping for a change of mood.

Virox slowly stood up and turned around towards me, revealing his chest without armor. It was the first time I saw how scarred he was. Even with his extreme regeneration, he was getting more and more scars each battle. Would seem that this was on purpose. After all his species were making use of their own pain in combat.

I noticed a small, yet clearly visible scar from a sniper rifle bullet right in front of one of his hearts. A bullet fired by me.

"We are going to fight Collectors soon." he said sharply. "This will be a very tough fight and we might even die a horrible and painful death." I chuckled lightly, but then realized that he was dead serious. "I tell you that I am as fine as I can be so let me prepare myself for the upcoming fight. I recommend you to do the same."

That being said, he turned back to his work. I stood there speechless. It would seem that the attack on the Normandy has turned Virox's personality by 180 degrees.

'That's not him. Something is wrong.' I thought. Or maybe, after all of his experiences, this was just too much?

I sighed and started calibrating the Normandy's Thanix cannon. It would need it before the fight that was about to begin.

'What is going on inside you, Virox?' was my last thought before completely giving myself up to the calibrations.

 **Shepard's POV**

This was it then.

After a short talk with the Illusive Man, I went to the cockpit where Joker was preparing the Normandy to jump through the Omega 4 relay.

"Approaching Omega 4 relay. Everyone standing by." he said as I could see the red glow from the relay's two rings.

"Let's make it happen." I said with determination. "It's now or never."

"Reaper IFF activated. Signal acknowledged." EDI reported and the ship started to shake a little bit. It was not strong, but I could feel my body vibrating weakly. After a while the vibrations became stronger to a point that I started to have trouble with maintaining balance.

"Commander? The drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree!" Jacob announced through the comms.

'Come on! Come on!' I kept thinking. If we were going to die BEFORE jumping through the relay, that would be embarrassing.

"Drive core electrical charge at critical levels." EDI confirmed Jacob's words and Joker started to press buttons on his pilot console even faster.

"Rerouting!" he said as his hands were moving so quickly that I had trouble keeping up.

Finally the relay has linked up with the drive core on the Normandy and I felt the ship jumping into FTL at incredible speed. It was so high that it took us another few seconds to get to our objective.

"Brace for deceleration!" EDI warned us just in time for me to grab something that would keep me standing. And what we saw was... well, not very encouraging.

"Oh shit!" Joker's comment quite accurately summed up our current situation we jumped out of the FTL right in the middle of a massive debris field.

'It would be a shame if we died even before starting the actual attack on the base.' I thought to myself.

Fortunately Joker managed to fly the Normandy out of the danger zone safely and therefore made the turbulences stop. (A/N: For those intelectuals out there that say there shouldn't be turbulences, I disagree as the Collector base could've trapped many gases in its gravity field, especially as the ships that traveled through the Omega 4 relay should have at least some sort of air aboard.)

"Whew!" he let out a sigh of relief. "Too close."

On that we could agree as I cautiously looked through the window and saw the wreckages that could end our mission even before the beggining. They were massive and there were so many of them...

"These are all the ships that tried to travel through the Omega 4 relay." Joker said quietly. He was amazed yet shocked as well. "Some look... ancient."

"I have detected an energy signature near the edge of the accretion disk." EDI reported as we were flying farther and farther from the wreckage deathtrap.

And then I saw it. A massive cylinder-like station made of both metal and something that was similar to the stone that made asteroids, with two massive metal rings right in the middle.

"Has to be the Collector Base." I stated though it was pretty obvious if I'll be honest. "Take us in for a closer look. Nice and easy."

I made sure that I said this last sentence. Didn't want to do the crazy flying again. Unfortunately I had to call it as suddenly Normandy's speakers started to beep quite loudly.

"Careful, Jeff." EDI informed. "We have company."

Then a red particle beam passed right next to the cockpit followed by a few others near the Normandy's wings. Probably Collector fighters.

"Taking evasive maneuvers!" Joker said quickly as he pulled the ship up making the turbulences come back. My stomach was certainly not pleased with this one. But the fighters were not giving up making Joker even more angry. "Now they're just pissing me off!"

Fortunately our GARDIAN system was enabled and soon the shiny blue beams of energy were launched from the ship destroying two of the attacking starfighters.

"EDI! Take those bastards out!" Joker shouted now clearly irritated by the enemy spacecraft as one of the beams finally hit the Normandy right at the top part.

"As long as the new plating holds." Miranda suddenly spoke right behind me nearly giving me a heart attack.

'Christ, woman! Don't do that again!' I thought while trying to calm my breath. 'How did she get here so quietly anyway?'

As Joker was mumbling insults under his breath and doing spins with the ship, something hit the hull pretty hard. I grabbed Joker's chair to regain balance and tried to calm my stomach.

'Flying is for mechs and drones.' I thought with annoyance as I finally found a stable position on the floor.

"Alert. Hull breach on the engineering deck." EDI informed us and displayed an orange hologram of the Normandy with a red dot right at the spot where hangar was located.

"It's in the cargo hold!" Joker said while trying to control the ship at the same time.

"I'll take a team and deal with the intruder. You get the rest of them off our tail." I said and quickly headed towards the elevator, while at the same time opened up a comm channel to the main battery. "Virox! I need you in the cargo hold! Get to the elevator ASAP!"

"Copy!" was the only response.

"Miranda, you go with me!" I waved my hand at the Cerberus operative and she quickly followed me as well. Hopefully we could take out this thing BEFORE it rips apart the Normandy from the inside.

 **Virox's POV**

As soon as I heard the orders, I quickly grabbed my rifle, pistol and a couple of grenades, then opened the exit from the main battery. Garrus nodded his head slightly wishing me good luck and I saluted him quickly and vanished behind the closed doors.

I could feel the floor vibrating under my feet, clearly indicating a presence of something quite large in the engineering deck. I didn't hear the steps from above however, which probably meant that Shepard was already in or near the elevator.

Feeling the cold hatred in my veins I quickly ran towards the elevator and pressed the button. Fortunately the door opened revealing Shepard and... Miranda. I surpressed the annoyance building up at the back of my head and quickly entered the elevator.

"Any idea of what we're up against?" I asked while inspecting my freshly painted weapon.

"You never cared about what we were fighting before." Miranda said with a venomous smirk on her face. "What changed? You seem tense."

"Wasn't talking to you." was my quick reply and turned towards the Commander. "Shepard?"

"Well, it seems that it is some sort of a drone that left its 'shell' that allowed it to function as a fighter." he replied after a short time of silence. "Expect tough armor and particle weaponry."

"Understood." I nodded and clicked at the button on the right side of my helmet. The second part of my visor came down from underneath my helmet and placed itself on my left eye, joining its right counterpart that I usually like to keep activated anyway. Now I had two eyes mechanically enhanced.

The elevator was slowly heading down and I caught myself on counting the decks we were passing.

Deck 3...

Deck 4...

I could see the big ball-like drone thanks to the visor's ability to scan through some thinner surfaces and didn't like what I saw. This thing was BIG. However there was no turning back now. There were sure more unholy enemies we would be fighting inside the Collector Base.

As the door was about to open on the Deck 5, reached out to my armor's pockets and pulled out a multi-purpose grenade, then set it for EMP and done the same thing with my rifle, as it was an energy weapon. EMP weaponry should weaken or at least stun the enemy for a moment.

Finally the door opened and all three of us quickly darted out of the elevator while shooting the drone. It spotted us immediately, but was unfazed by our small arms and I could see it's 'eye' getting brighter. Preparing to fire.

And then it unleashed a deadly particle beam at Shepard who took cover behind a crate that surprisingly managed to withstand the firepower of this kind of armament.

I quickly pulled out my EMP grenade and threw it at the drone, hitting it dead center in the red eye. The grenade exploded unleashing an EMP blast that stunned the drone as I predicted and made it stop its attack.

"Now! Focus fire!" Shepard shouted as he and Miranda peaked out of cover and unleashed a deadly volley of bullets.

I activated the overcharge on my weapon and left the cover, while pulling the trigger. The rifle started vibrating and then unleashed an incredible volley of energy bolts, but this time enhanced with the EM effect.

The drone let out a loud mechanic shriek and backed off a bit, quite overwhelmed by the sudden counterattack. But our advance couldn't last forever and the drone charged it weapon again, but this time aiming at me.

'Oh no, you don't' I thought and thanks to my cybernetically enhanced speed, I ran away from cover trying to go around it. The drone started turning towards me and away from Shepard and Miranda, making me smirk lightly. It caught the bait.

As I was running behind another pack of crates, Commander started to attack the drone from behind. However his weapon couldn't do much against the tough armor of the big ball of steel.

It was becoming harder to keep distance from the particle beam, but then an idea came up in my head. I ran towards the bigger piece of machinery capable of withstanding the beam's power. The drone must've analyzed my style of running and it probably thinks I will vanish at the one end of cover and appear at the other. That's what I was doing so far. It was time for a change now.

I dashed to the cover, but caught a metal bar that was sticking out of the machinery to quickly decelerate. With the corner of my eye I noticed the red beam passing the cover and stopping. Drone must've figured out my strategy. Before I could rethink my strategy, I pulled out two more EMP grenades, jumped on the machinery that served as my cover and launched myself into the air while throwing the grenades at the same time. The explosion erupted right under my legs as I was flying over the drone and the hot air propelled me upwards a bit, making me land a bit farther than expected. Then Shepard and Miranda appeared and started shooting again. Drone wanted to fire again, but was stopped by Commander's concussive shot that made it turn away. Meanwhile Miranda used her biotic Warp ability to significantly weaken the drone's armor. I quickly stood up and resumed fire, but then the drone started retreating and then flew out through the hole it created while crashing here.

"Coward..." I grumbled and then realized how dumb it was. The drone was programmed by the Collectors that serve the Reapers. Its programming was probably complex enough to figure out that this fight was lost to it here for now. It would probably come back, while damaging the ship even more.

But then something very big hit the ship making all three of us loose balance. I managed to support myself on one of the crates and then magnetically locked my legs to the floor to avoid another fall, while Shepard and Miranda held to whatever was directly connected with the floor to maintain balance. There were a few more shakes like this and I could feel the vibrations of the ship every time we hit something. A privilege of enhanced senses.

Suddenly something smaller made contact with the ship and I felt it was directly below us. I thought it was going to slide off the hull on the kinetic barriers, but then I realized I hear a particle beam. Our round iron friend was back.

"Watch out! The drone is coming back!" I shouted to Shepard the moment our visitor made himself at home in the cargo hold again. They nodded and aimed their weapons at the enemy.

I attempted to distract it with the same strategy that worked before, but drone didn't even bother and quickly opened fire at Miranda who was forced to take cover.

"Gettin' smarter, are we?" I muttered and attempted to draw its attention by a constant fire from the other side of the room. After a few seconds it turned around, but this time it dashed towards me with incredible speed while charging its particle beam. I managed to dodge the deadly weapon just in time, but the drone didn't stop on that. It started shrieking on very high sound frequencies making my head feel like it was exploding over and over again.

I blindly ran away, holding my head and threw a grenade behind me, not even looking. Drone didn't stop its hunt however. I now understood its tactics. It couldn't fight all of us at once, so it's prioritizing the targets that pose the greatest threat at the moment.

Unfortunately the high frequency shrieks disoriented me so badly, I tripped over some scrap and fell on the ground. After a moment I opened my eyes to see a big red eye charging right above me.

'Shit.' were my last thoughts, but then I heard Shepard's voice from behind the drone.

"Virox! Run!" he shouted and I stood up quickly and dashed to the right. Red-eyed robot, seemingly irritated that I'm evading it again, shrieked again, but then a huge explosion hit it from the right. It couldn't withstand such explosion anymore and multiple red cracks formed around its metallic shell before exploding.

The shrieking stopped and I slowly regained a good sight. After my vision cleared, I saw Shepard with the 'Nuke launcher' in his hands.

"Couldn't have used it sooner?" I asked while grabbing my fallen rifle from the ground.

"I wanted to be convinced that it will finish it off when I shoot it." he anwsered as he helped me get up and then turned dead serious. "Virox, you can't just run around the enemy without support like a bait. Our mission is to destroy the Collector Base, but without trying to kill ourselves in the process."

"Understood." I grumbled, while beating myself up for my bold actions. This was exactly the thing I wanted to avoid while on the suicide mission.

"Better get up here, Commander." Joker's voice came from the speakers.

"We are about to clear the debris field." EDI informed us.

"Mind if I come by?" I asked, as sitting in the Main Battery would be not only boring but pointless too.

"Sure." Shepard nodded lightly and I joined him and Miranda in the elevator.

As we were heading up, I wondered what kind of ships we were going to see after we'll get some more space to maneuver the ship. From the databanks of the Grox ships, we've learned that our cybernetic foes live somewhere near the Galactic Core. Maybe the Grox were fighting against the Collectors? Guess we will find out after we get closer.

Finally the elevator stopped and the door opened. I silently followed Shepard and Miranda towards the cockpit trying to remain focused. Joker was obviously sitting on his pilot chair and pressing buttons like he usually does, while EDI was floating in the air above the terminal nearby as a holo projection.

"There it is. The Collector Base" Miranda spoke slowly with a tiny bit of amazement. Couldn't blame her. The giant construct was enormous... and kinda beatiful in its own twisted way. I decided that I've seen enough of the base and now started looking at the multiple shipwrecks that surrounded the base. After a while, I noticed a strange looking group of wrecks. Their shape was unusual and seemed almost... familiar, especially a few on the very front. From an unknown reason I would immediately say that they were Grox ships. But why...?

'A ...-class heavy frigate. Capable of independently defend ... from enemy spacecraft. Possesses a ... that contains 24 ...-class interceptors and ... Scythe-class bombers. Its armament ... of 14 ... cannons, and ... flak cannons. Best used in flanking maneuvers, but it is ... to use it on the frontlines with the support of ...-class heavy cruisers.' a descryption literally popped up in my head and I closed my eyes for a moment. 'WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT WAS THAT?'

I could hear Shepard and Joker talking in the background, but their voices were coming to me as a mess of unintelligible noises. Why did I know all of these things about this ship? I've never seen it before and yet a good description immediately popped up in my head. I had some problems with my memory in certain sentences, but it was still strange.

I've heard something about 'an old friend coming to greet us' and knowing that it usually meant nothing good, I magnetically attached my legs to the ground, while still looking at the wrecks. After a while I noticed some details that made me realize a few things. All of these 'familiar' wrecks were on the left side of the Normandy. I looked at the right to see another group of ships. It was much bigger than that from the left side, but seemed to be completely anihilated. Ships of both fleets had multiple cuts through their hulls, resembling these made by the particle weapons or energy beams.

"There was a battle here." I said quietly. "A big one."

But then I realized we were flying right at the Collector Ship that was in the middle of turning towards us.

"What?" Shepard asked, probably not knowing what I meant.

"Nevermind." I shook my head and stabilized my cybernetic legs even more, in case we were to get hit.

The Collector Ship finished its turn and now had its particle beam ready to fire. After a second, the yellow beam was launched from the ship, but Joker managed to move the Normandy from the line of fire. I could smell his sweat.

"Time to show our new teeth." Shepard stated with cold determination. "Fire the main gun."

I chuckled on that. Garrus was probably tingling from anticipation to see our new gun be tested. Two big Thanix cannons emerged from underneath the cockpit and fired a light-blue particle beam towards the Collector Ship. It was significantly slower than its Collector counterpart, but was nontherless incredibly fast. It took it about 5 seconds to hit the enemy vessel and it already badly damaged the ship.

"How you're liking that, you sons-of-bitches!?" Joker teased the Collectors obviously happy that this time he was on the side that was destroying another. He told me what happened to the original Normandy.

"Get in close and finish them off." Shepard said while maintaining his cold tone.

"Everybody hold on! Gonna be a wild ride!"

Normandy made a spin to dodge an incoming particle beam and then fired the Thanix cannon again, landing another succesful hit on the Collector cruiser. But as the Normandy was getting closer to the exploding ship, a shockwave erupted from the explosion and hit us. I could feel that the vibration of the main reactor has stopped. This was not good.

"Mass effect field generators are offline!" Joker shouted as he lost control over the ship. "EDI! Give me something!"

"Generators unresponsive." EDI informed. "All hands brace for impact."

Fortunately I was magnetically locked to the floor and managed to maintain balance when Normandy crashed on the surface of the Collector Base. Shepard fell on the ground while Joker somehow miraculously stayed on his chair as the ship hit the rocky surface of the base. Miranda was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she rolled down the hallway?

I unlocked my legs and then slowly approached Shepard lying on the ground. He looked intact, but when I helped him up, I smelled a bit of blood from under his helmet. Probably bleeding from a lip or nose.

"Thanks." he said while breathing heavily. "Joker. You OK?"

"Ugh..." he moaned while holding his stomach. "I think I broke a rib... or all of them."

"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash." EDI said through a speaker, though didn't appear anywhere. "Restoring operation will take time."

"We all knew this was likely a one-way trip." Miranda's voice came from behind us. She didn't really look like she just rolled down the hallway.

'A pity.' I thought while smiling lightly, but then my anger and hatred towards the Collectors suddenly came back. 'Focus now! There is job to be done.'

Shepard was staring at the surface of the Collector Base through the window in the cockpit. I could smell the adrenaline coming from him. But he wasn't scared. Quite opposite. He was determined to see this mission till the end.

"I will do whatever it takes to stop the Collectors." he said with the same cold tone he had during the fight with the Collector Cruiser. "But I plan to live to tell about it."

"Well, I'm glad you're in charge." Joker replied and started pressing buttons on his pilot console again. "What's next?"

"Joker. You and EDI get the ship back online." Commander ordered and after that he turned towards us. "Miranda, Virox. Gather everyone else in the briefing room. We need a plan."

"Yes sir." I said and went towards the hallway leading to the CIC.

Guess this was it. We would finally avenge all the people Collectors killed or abducted. And put an end to their existence.

 **Garrus' POV**

Saying that I was completely exhausted would be either an understatement or overexaggerating. Or both at the same time.

In fact the only thing I did during the whole fight was making sure that the new Thanix cannon I managed to install on the Normandy was at its top performance, and trying to not loose balance as the ship was being hit by some things over and over again. On the other hand though I was awaiting the moment to test the Thanix cannon so badly, I couldn't keep myself focused, making more and more calculations and speculations about its performance against the Collector cruiser. That did leave a mark on my mental health.

OK, maybe it wasn't that bad, but still. It was a stressful time.

Virox left the Main Battery to fight with the Collector drone (that's already been called Oculus by Mordin Solus for some reason) completely untouched and when I saw him again in the briefing room, he looked almost exactly the same when he left. The only difference was the fact that his behaviour was so cold and serious, I swear I could feel the hate and ruthlessness radiating from him.

And then it hit me...

It was only once when I saw Virox without his seemingly indestructible barrier of humor and jokes. It was when he was telling me about his past and the Great Grox War. But back then he was serious and sad. Now he was serious, bloodthirsty and hungry for revenge.

After all this time I was fighting with him in the same team, I couldn't tell which Virox was more dangerous. The one that doesn't give a damn about his safety and makes the battlefield his personal playground, or the one that doesn't give a damn about his safety and makes the battlefield his personal slaughterhouse.

I was brought back to reality as Shepard finally came to the briefing room. He took off his N7 helmet, but I've been around him long enough to know that he wasn't any less dangerous without it. Well, maybe in the vaccum of space... (BAD JOKE). Lil' Anderson was circling around his legs nervously. He still haven't found any life on the ship other than Joker and Virox and was clearly showing saddness because of that.

"This isn't how we planned this mission. But this is where we're at." he started and leaned on the table. "We can't worry about whether the Normandy takes us home. We came here to stop the Collectors and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station." he made a quick pause and looked at the ceiling. "EDI. Bring up your scans."

After a second a holographic projection of the Collector Base appeared above the table. From the looks of it, the station was MASSIVE. Hopefully we wouldn't need to walk around the whole thing to take it out.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control center here." EDI said and an indicator appeared on the hologram.

"That means going through the heart of the station, right past this energy signature." Jacob pointed out and I couldn't get the feeling out of my head that this signature was something that would kill us quickly.

"That's the central chamber." Shepard nodded. "If our crew, or any colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them in there."

'OK, maybe it's not all that bad.' I thought. 'And we get the chance to rescue the crew and abducted colonists.'

"It looks like there are two main routes." Jacob said while clicking some buttons on his omni-tool. Then another two blue indicators appeared. "It might be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off balance, then regroup in the central chamber."

"No good. Both routes are blocked." Miranda shook her head and I finally saw why she and Virox didn't get along from the very beggining. He was the happy-go-lucky guy with an infinite supply of optimism when in good mood, while she was always serious and on the verge of rational and pesimistic. "See these doors? The only way past them is to get someone to open them from the other side."

"Well, we COULD blow the doors up," Virox started and immediately recieved some disapproving looks from Miranda and Jacob. "BUT we would probably do too much mess in the process, it would take too long and we probably don't have enough explosives to blast all of them.

"It's not a fortress. There's gotta be something." Shepard was studying the scan carefully. "Here. Maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft."

"Practically a suicide mission." Jacob summed up. "I volunteer."

"Collector equipment complicated. Multiple obstacles on the way. Collector security systems. Low chance of success." Mordin summed up. "Need someone with technical experience."

Almost immediately all eyes went on Tali and I really didn't envy her now. But whether I liked it or not, she was the most experience member of the team when it came to tech stuff.

"We need someone with tech skills to hack that security system." Shepard said while still keeping his eyes on the quarian. "Tali, you're up."

She straightened up a bit and held her hands behind her back. It was clear that she was scared of the task, but nontherless agreed. I admired that.

"I won't let you down." she said with her voice shaking a little, while Shepard turned towards the squad.

"The rest of us will break into two teams and fight down each passage. This should draw the Collectors' attention from what you're doing."

"I'll lead the second team, Shepard." Miranda volunteered immediately. "We'll meet up with you on the other side of the doors.

"Not so fast, Cheerleader." Jack protested. "Nobody wants to take orders from YOU."

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one here to think that way." Virox said as he was standing in the corner of the room, away from everyone, yet still perfectly seeing what was going on. He then walked towards the table. "I think we need a team leader that has some REAL combat experience. Not a spoiled child that looks like she just signed up for the job as a stripper in Afterlife."

I could swear I saw him glancing at me. There was a few chuckles from the squad, although Virox himself remained dead serious. Miranda on the other hand was staring at Virox with pure hate, although the latter didn't seem to care that much. But then I saw that my sight has't fooled me. Shepard too was looking at me now and I was pretty sure that he was considering me as a leader.

"Garrus. You're in charge of the second team." he stated and I saw Virox looking at me with a weird expression. I learned some of his expression during the time I spent with him, but I still couldn't tell all of them. This was probably something like 'Good luck. You'll need it'. And yes, I was going to need luck. A LOT of it.

I nodded slightly to let everyone know that I'm ready. Although if I really was ready was yet to be determined.

"Well." Miranda started with a bit of annoyance in her voice. "At least he knows what he's doing."

And then there was everyone, staring at Shepard. Waiting for the final speech before the fight. I knew that feeling too well. I had my team before and they were putting faith in me every time I led them to battle. Shepard really had a rough time during this whole crazy adventure. Now it all came to this.

He sighed lightly before starting to speak.

"I know that some, if not all of you are afraid right now. I am afraid too. We might not even make it off this station. Some of us might die. But whatever we see there can't stop us from finishing our mission." he stopped for a moment, looking at everyone once again. "We WILL stop the Collectors. We WILL make them pay for all these people they abducted. And we will make sure that no more colonist will be taken away from their families." he stopped again to take a breath and when I saw his eyes again, I saw fire that I've never seen in any other person in the galaxy. "They wanna see what we're made of!? I say we show them. On OUR terms. From from the front seats! It's time to bring our people back home. It's time to put an end to this maddness! An end once and for all!"

Lil' Anderson howled triumphantly while everyone in the room nodded slightly. Some of them adjusted their weapons, checked their thermal clips or just stood their waiting for orders.

"Alright people." I broke the silence. "Let's move it up!"

"Grunt. Legion." Shepard pointed at the two. "You go with me."

"Acknowledged." Geth's light flickered a bit.

"Oh this is gonna be fun." Grunt grinned evily and I already felt sorry for the Collectors that were going to be in the proximity of four meters away from him. Lil' Anderson was sticking with Shepard all the time and I saw the Commander pull out something that looked like... a mask for a dog? Then he put it around Lil' Anderson's head. The mask changed its shape to perfectly fit the dog's jaws. It seemed like it allowed him to breathe in vaccum or something like that, while still allowing him to bite. Weird.

Suddenly Virox approached me face to face as most of the crew was leaving the room. His expression was now cold. The same cold I saw when he was isolating from everyone in the Main Battery. This was an unknown teritory to me. I learned how he reacted on some particular things while being in his giggly and happy-go-lucky attitude. But now? I was afraid that I say something he'll punch me in the face with his cybernetic arm and damage it even more.

"Good luck... Garrus." he said and I somehow felt that it was completely honest. "May we find glory in victory or in death."

"Uhh... thanks." I didn't really know what to give as an anwser to this, but at least he didn't punch me in the face.

We both went outside the briefing room and went through the second exit from the Normandy. The rest of the team was already there, waiting for us with their weapons ready.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked while trying to sound confident. I recieved a few nods, but I knew that it's impossible to prepare for something like this. "Good. Let's go."

We walked farther down the hallway and then found a door. It was unlocked so far but still closed. I ordered everyone to gather on both of its sides so that we could quickly take out enemies when we opened them.

"Second team? Are you in position?" Shepard's voice came through the comms.

"In position. See you on the other side of those doors." I replied as everyone positioned themselves by the entrance.

"Three hostiles coming up. Standard infantry." Virox said and I almost forgot about his visor that allowed him to see things through thin walls. "Two on the left and one on the right."

I slowly raised my hand up and activated my omni-tool. Now it was all up to this moment. I counted in my head:

3...

2...

1...

"GO!" I shouted as the doors opened.

Three Collectors that Virox told us about immediately turned towards us, but before us or them could even raise their weapons, all three were immediately shot right in the head. All of the lifeless bodies collapsed while dropping their weapons.

Virox stood there with his revolver in hand, pointing at the corpses. I was amazed by his aim and reaction time. Maybe we COULD use an 'angry Virox' sometimes.

"We should get moving." he said with no emotion in his voice.

"Right." I came back to reality and pointed my hand forward. "Move on, people!"

"What a show-off." Jack's quiet grumble could be heard from behind, but I didn't care much. We needed to keep up with Shepard's team.

We were running forward as a pretty big group but tried to remain in formation. So far we have encountered only lone patrols of husks and collectors wandering around that were quickly shot down by Virox before anyone could even aim. That let us keep a high speed for some time, as we were running through dead silent corridors filled with machinery and these pods that Collectors used to store the captured colonists.

"Shepard, this is Garrus." I opened a comlink. "We're making a good progress. Little Collector resistance so far. Meet you at the rendezvous."

But after a while we left a giant corridor and entered a huge room... filled with husks, scions, Collectors and even a few Praetorians too. All of them were looking at us now, but it didn't seem that they were busy doing something else... rather like they have been waiting for us here.

"Shit." I could hear Jack from behind. "We're never gonna rush through them."

Unfortunately this was true. It was impossible to just run past them while shooting. The husks only would kill you at least 3 times before getting to the other side. Other Collector troops weren't making it better. It would seem that the only way to get through them was to slowly fight our way out, killing all enemies by the way. Seemed like a fair compensation for the low resistance in the hallways before.

"Spread out!" I shouted while running to the nearest rock that was big enough to serve as my protection. "Find some cover and focus fire on the husks. Move from cover to cover only with someone providing suppressing fire!"

Almost everyone immediately spread out as the Collectors opened fire at us. Everyone except... Virox obviously.

"Virox! What are you doing!?" I waved my hand towards him, but he slowly started walking towards the Collector forces. "Take cover!"

But he kept walking, while dodging the incoming projectiles with incredible reflexes. His eyes were focused on one particular Collector in the whole group, one that was glowing a yellow light. The Harbringer in his Collector form.

And I remembered his encounter with him on the Collector Ship. It was from this moment that Virox's transformation began. It was very subtle, almost unnoticable. He was still a very happy-go-lucky guy, though in many situations he started to take more serious approach. His behaviour changed. During the time he told me about his past, he was almost completely serious. Harbinger did something to Virox when he touched his face during that mission. Something that changed him. It all came down to these two now.

"I have some unfinished business." he said quietly, but on a private comm channel between me and him, loud enough to hear his voice. With that all eight of his blades emerged from his fists. "And it is better for you to not interfere."

And after that he ran right into the husk horde.

 **Virox's POV**

I was angry.

I was hateful.

But somehow I was not enraged.

I slashed and cut my way through the Collector forces and towards the Harbinger. The husks were falling left and right and soon I broke through them and started killing normal Collector Drones. One I threw at an exploding Abomination. Another I punched in the head so hard that the skull was shattered completely. I slashed the throats of two more while running farther and farther in the horde.

My shields were almost down, but I didn't care as two more Collector Drones died from energy bolts of my revolver. I could hear quiet whispers in my head which made me more and more angry. Still I couldn't get enraged for some reason.

A Praetorian screeched at me as I ran towards it, but when it swung its giant spikey legs, I dodged easily and pulled out a grenade. When it turned towards me again, I literally punched the explosive into its mouth before jumping at its back and launching myself from it towards the Harbinger.

For some reason, not many Collectors were focusing on me. They were rather focusing their fire on the squad. I landed in front of the shining Collector that the Reaper possessed.

"You cannot resist forever." he spoke and I could swear that he was speaking both through the Collector's body and in my head. "Your people will ascend like they were supposed to be."

What he was saying wasn't making much sense to me, but I was furious now. I wanted his blood on my blades. I wanted to tear off his head and then crack it wide open to pull out his brain and then squash it in my hands.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't care!" I screamed and let go all the hatred and saddness that accumulated inside me through this time after he showed me that vision on the Collector ship. "I'll make you suffer for what you did! I'll kill you all if that means avenging the people you killed and took away!" Then I felt like my anger is taking over completely. "THIS! ENDS! NOW!"

And after that I leaped towards the Harbinger. He reacted immediately by launching a biotic attack at me, but I easily dodged. Then I punched his weapon from his hands and stabbed him in the stomach. He screeched in ultrasounds, but I lifted him up and threw behind me. Then quickly turned around as Harbinger was standing up and grabbed him by his neck.

"For Qreten!" I screamed as I punched him in the head.

He let out a shriek of pain and tried to grab me by the face, but I threw him away again and this time stood on his torso as I got closer again.

"For the crew!" I roared and delivered another punch to his face.

The pure hatred in my veins was stimulating my most primitive instincts and I pinned him down with my blades. Then I bit his throat. I felt immense heat, but my anger was stronger. I ripped out something that used to be trachea and lifted him by the devastated throat.

"For all of them!" I channelled all of my pain in this scream and then threw the already dead Collector Drone at the wall. It disintegrated shortly after.

Everything was blurry. It seemed that even after killing the possessed Collector, my hatred didn't disappear. Quite opposite. I wanted more blood. More killing. More...

But then I turned around to see a Praetorian right in front of me. The beast screeched in my face and swung one of its legs. I didn't dodge in time and the leg hit me with incredible force. I couldn't see anything for a while, but the pain was unbearable. I felt that I hit something, but everything else was just a mess of voices and noises. As I finally opened my eyes, I barely noticed that I was lying on the ground, my back was leaning on the wall, keeping me relatively straight.

And there he was again.

Harbinger possessing another grunt.

"Insignificant." he only spoke and a biotic ball was launched from his hand and flew somewhere above me. Then a few small rocks fell on the ground next to me. I managed to look up and saw a big stone column slowly collapsing.

'It's over then.' were my last thoughts before something hard hit my head and I fell into an endless pit of darkness.

 **Garrus' POV**

"VIROX!" I screamed as I saw a column with a lot of metal parts in it collapsing on him. "NO!"

It couldn't be. Virox survived everything. I really hoped that he would just jump out of the pile of rocks and start laughing maniacally... but it didn't happen. I felt an overwhelming anger as it was building up in my head. Virox was my friend, and Harbinger killed him. I knew what I had to do.

"Thane!" I shouted through the comms. "Cover me as I move up closer!"

"Copy." Drell replied calmly as always and I took a deep breath before leaving my cover. A few husks tried to get close, but I killed them with my Vindicator rifle. Some of the machinery seemed like a perfect cover to me, so I decided to take it.

"Miranda, Jacob! Now you!" I ordered and two of the Cerberus operatives moved up forward.

We repeated the maneuver with multiple squad members and suddenly I realized that we started to push the Collectors back. Their numbers were quickly depleting as we progressed even further. The Harbinger himself couldn't stop us.

This was for Virox.

 **Virox's POV**

It was the second... no, third time that I felt like this. Unconcious, gravely wounded and feeling like a total crap. Seemed like my destiny just liked putting me on the verge of dying. Well, it was time to play the 50/50 game again. Will I die this time? Or will the world decide otherwise.

"Warning! Critical physical damage." I've heard a synthetic voice. "Seek medical attention ASAP."

After a moment that felt like an eternity, I slowly opened my eyes. Both of my visors had their outer shell damaged, but the inner elastic glass seemed intact. Thank goodness it did, as I would be blind right now if it wasn't. The HUD was flickering in multiple colours, displaying warnings and surprisingly the current status of my rifle. I couldn't feel it in my hands, so it had to be lying somewhere above this pile of rocks. Now I just needed to get out of here.

But as I tried to move, a terrible pain struck the back of my head.

In the normal circumstances I would scream from agony, but now I was buried under a LOT of rocks.

Trying to overcome the pain, I made another attempt on getting out of here.

*CRACK*

I felt a short sting at the back of my head and then something that felt like brain parts moving around my head.

'What the hell is that?' I thought. 'I didn't do that.'

And then most of the pain and anger that I was feeling faded away completely. In fact I realized that I was a total douche right before the mission. What the hell was I thinking?

*CRACK*

Suddenly everything changed. The anger came back. I really wanted to kill Harbinger countless times again. The adrenaline and hatred came back. I wanted to get out of here. I wanted to be in the heat of battle again. To kill. To cut. To live!

*GASP*

But as I tried to inhale some air, my lungs filled up mostly with the CO2 that I already exhaled. I realized that my air is running out and there was a limited amount of time before I can get out of here.

'Shit shit shit!'

*CRACK*

Then I felt... whole again. I started rapidly moving in hope to break free and get some air. My brain was badly damaged already and now I started to see things. Memories, friends, enemies... my home back on Carvistorn... my dead family.

"Promise me, Virox" I saw my father dying on the floor. "Promise me... promise US that you will survive. That you will live."

I was too desperate for air to reply. Then I saw my family again, but this time standing in front of me. I was certain that they were dead. Killed by the Grox. And yet here I saw them like

"Don't give up." my mother started to comfort me. "You and only you can save our legacy."

'I know.' I thought as my moves were now stronger and more desperate.

"You promised us..." my father kept saying.

'I know!' I could literally feel my life leaving the already badly damaged body.

"You promised..." it seemed like they reached their hands towards me like if they wanted to pull me up from underneath these rocks.

"I KNOW!" In a last-ditch effort I tried swing my right arm upwards, in an attempt to grab their hands that FELT like the only thing that would hold me from falling into the arms of death.

My arm broke through the rocks and I finally saw the weak light of the Collector station. The glorious feeling of oxygen in my lungs made my vision sharpen almost to its normal sharpness. I slowly crawled out of the rocks and then noticed that Garrus and the squad were still pressing the advantage.

*CRACK*

'Damn it I missed them so much!' my brain was screaming.

Finally I noticed my rifle lying on the ground next to the pile of rocks I just crawled out of. It looked horrible, but kept its general shape and the lights were still on. That was my only hope now so trying to maintain balance I slowly walked towards my weapon.

"Oh my beautiful CAR." I sighed and hugged it tightly. "You're the best."

*CRACK*

Then I turned serious again. It would seem that these weird cracks in my head were changing my mood... or personality.

'I'll deal with that later.' I thought and turned around towards the firefight that was still going. 'Now I need to finish what we've started.'

And with that said, I pulled a grenade from one of my armour pockets.

 **Garrus' POV**

We were doing it. We were actually pushing back the Collectors further and further. For each ten steps forward, we were firing a hundred bullets. Each ten steps was getting us closer to our objective. The Collector resistance was melting and now the only force that was between us and the door was a small group of Collector Drones, four Scions and a Praetorian.

The beast itself was standing right in front of us, not bothered by the amount of fire it was exposed to. Its powerful particle weapons were keeping single squadmates behind their cover and I did not want to repeat the incident from Qreten.

"It's barriers are weak. Kasumi!" I shouted to the hooded thief. "Cloak and attack it from behind."

"On it!" she replied and disappeared.

However the Praetorian either saw her cloaking or just knew that something was coming. It started to attack more aggressively and was making shrieks that were now giving me a headache. These were pretty loud now.

Kasumi uncloaked right before the beast, but it just sensed that she was going to appear there. It turned around lightning fast and used the momentum of the turn to swing one of its big legs at her. The thief went flying on the ground, but the Praetorian used its spiky legs to quickly close the distance. I knew that it was going to kill her if we wouldn't do something.

"Someone! Get a..." I started, but then a huge explosion erupted right on top of the Praetorian's head, while leaving Kasumi unharmed. I looked around to see if that was one of us that did that. The Collectors were stunned for a moment too. Although they quickly snapped out of it and aimed their weapons at us.

"HEY!" a voice too distinct to not recognize echoed through the room. Everyone, including myself has turned around towards the source... and there he was.

Virox looked like he just went into hell and back. He was slowly walking towards us, with his hand barely holding his weapon. His armor was wrecked and he was bleeding from multiple wounds. The cybernetic limbs had multiple cracks and dents, yet he was still walking.

"You've got a BIIIIG problem now." he spoke in the very serious and vengeful tone while he lifted up his gun and grabbed it by the handgrip with the other hand. He glanced over everyone like if he was analysing something... But then his head snapped like 90 degree to the right and back. And his expression immediately changed. He was grinning like crazy and started laughing. "'Cause you're all gonna die a horrible and painful death!"

And that's when the mayhem begun...

Virox transformed his rifle into a bloody minigun and started shooting everything while laughing like a maniac. We took the advantage from the fact that the Collectors suddenly turned their backs on us and immediately started firing. The enemy was crushed by our numbers and Virox's insane firepower... and his insanity.

"HAHAHA! COME OVER HERE AND I WILL FRY YOU ALIVE!" he screamed while still laying down a wave of death and destruction. I've noticed a few Collector soldiers running inside the room from behind us, but Virox immediately turned his gun of you-die-now, towards them and started to pick them off one by one. More were running inside the room which made our position not very comfortable. Luckily Jacob pulled out his rocket launcher and used it to take out Praetorian's shields, while also damaging it badly. The beast couldn't withstand the joined firepower of the whole squad (excluding Virox, who was now acting like a madman), and soon disintegrated by itself like they always do. The Collector reinforcements were now flooding the room so we took some cover to try to hold on until the door would open.

"This is Garrus! We're waiting at the door! Although you might wanna hurry up, Tali!" I spoke through the comms as the firefight began to erupt again. Even Virox decided that it was time to take cover. He was still giggling like a maniac though.

"HAHA! I've missed you so much guys..." he let out between the laughs and pulled out a grenade, then threw it behind himself soon after. A Collector scream came to us a while after, meaning that the explosion must've killed one of them. "Dying sucks... ha ha... that's why I prefer sticking with you guys and don't give a damn."

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Jack asked after shooting down a few Collectors herself. "You act like you're crazy!"

"Yes! No... maybe... I dunno." he was struggling to speak between the giggles which I found increasingly annoying and... unnatural. He was never acting THAT relaxed during a fight. What happened...

And then I noticed a piece of metal sticking out of his head. It literally pierced the helmet and his skin. I was surprised that it didn't make a soup out of his brain. However a really big Collector force just entered the room and started to lay overwhelming fire.

"Tali!?" I said through a comm channel. "Where are you!?"

"Hold on! I'm opening the door right now." the response came like a blessing along with the hiss of the door. I looked behind us and the only thing I saw was trouble and many ways to die.

"Inside! NOW!" I ordered and then noticed multiple small shapes moving fast towards us. "Hurry up! Seeker Swarms inbound!"

Some of us went inside and positioned themselves on the sides of the door, but not everyone could fit in. Some of them stayed... including Virox, who turned his rifle into a weapon of total anihilation again. I just hoped that he was not going to have a too close near-death experience again.

"This is Shepard! We're in position!" Commander's voice echoed through my head. "We need this door open now!"

I realized that this choice was on me...

It was either: waiting for my team to get in first and risk the lost of Shepard's team... OR giving Tali time to open the door for Shepard and put our lives at risk.

'Damn it, Shepard. Now I know how it feels like...' I thought and made my decision. I turned towards the quarian, who was firing at the incoming enemies. "Go! We'll cover you!"

She nodded and ran back inside the room, while I turned back to now overwhelming enemy force in front of us. It was composed mostly of Collector foot soldiers supported by Scions.

It was time to teach these bugs a lesson

 **No-one's POV**

The Collectors were pushing from both sides, as the Team was desperately fighting the incoming enemies, placing their fate in the three-fingered hands of physically the weakest member of the team... yet the strongest one when it came to machines

Tali was moving her fingers lightning fast as she was trying to open the door for Shepard and his team. She was doing it almost instinctively as it seemed that her hands were the ones thinking, not the head.

'Come on! Just open up!' she kept telling herself until a positive beep came to her ears through her mask, followed by the hiss of the door.

Immediately Legion and Grunt went through the door and took cover on both of its sides. Finally when they were safe, Shepard also ran in while still shooting the incoming Collectors. Garrus noticed that with the corner of his eye and waved at Virox, Thane and Miranda.

"You! With me!" he ordered and turned towards the others. "The rest - inside! Now!"

After that he ran towards Shepard's team that was still struggling with the incoming Collectors, with three teammates right behind him.

"The door is jammed! Hold on!" Tali shouted as she was doing her best to close both doors and separate the Team from the Collector forces.

"Surpressing fire! Don't let anyone through that door!" Garrus said as he, Virox, Thane and Miranda finally reached Shepard.

"BURN THEM ALIVE!" Virox screamed like a maniac and unleashed a deadly volley of energy bolts from his weapon, although the thin, yet strong energy shield covering his body flickered a few times. It was not fast enough however to hide from Garrus' sight. He turned towards his friend as most of the Collectors were far away and noticed another flicker.

"Virox! Stop! You drain your shields too fast!" he shouted, but then the doors started to close. It seemed like the end of the fight... and then one final bullet managed to fly through the miniscule gap between the closing doors and hit the Carvin in the chest...

 **Virox's POV**

"Ahh shit!" I fell down on the ground wincing from pain. This one shitty shot broke through my shield and hit me right under the ribs. My armor was probably so messed up, it only reduce the strength of the slug, not stop it completely. "Bastard..."

"You alright?" Garrus ran towards me and held his hand to help me up.

*CRACK*

What kind of question was that?

"After being beaten up, thrown at the wall, crushed by like a ton of rocks, having halucinations of my dead family from the extreme lack of oxygen and brain damage, and almost suffocationg to death?" I said all that on one breath in all seriousness. It wasn't funny at all.

*CRACK*

I take it back. It was hilarious.

"Nah, I've been through worse." I started chuckling and some part of my badly damaged brain realized that I've been having these strange cracks that caused me to flip my head 90 degrees to the side. They were also changing something in my way of thinking. Strange.

"Well, you have a big, sharp piece of metal sticking out of your head..." he replied, kind of stunned for unknown reason.

"Really?" I reached to the back of my head with my right arm and the moment I touched a hard metallic object, I felt an incredible pain and my vision went blurry for a moment. "OW! You weren't kidding with that thing."

"You really look like shit." Jack approached me while holding a shotgun on her shoulder.

*CRACK*

"Well, at least I look more like myself than you would after all of that." I replied coldly. "I imagine that what would be left of you, would look like pyjak's body eaten and spewed out by a varren."

She backed off by one step and looked at me strangely.

"I don't know if your sarcasm is so advanced, or you're actually serious.

*CRACK*

I suddenly felt the same feeling like during my halucinations under the rocks. I felt WHOLE again.

And then I understood what happened to me.

The metal in my head, the weird cracks from time to time and my attitude constantly swapping between bluntly happy-go-lucky and dead serious... it finally started to make sense. Sense very difficult to admit.

I looked at my hands with disbelief for what happened to me.

'My personality... was split?' I still couldn't accept that. 'Now, when I feel whole, does that mean that both of my personalities have merged together for a short time?'

"Virox?" suddenly Garrus' voice brought me back to reality. He was staring at me uncertainly. "Are you OK?"

*CRACK*

'Well, I might as well tell him.' I thought to myself. 'He'll either believe me or take it as another joke. Either way, he should leave this topic alone.'

"This thing in my head probably damaged my brain so badly that my personality was split into two: a total asshole that cracks jokes about everything, and a dead serious bastard." I said in my 'usual' tone, although I really didn't know which was which now. "I'm still trying to figure out how all of this works though."

Some people looked at me curiously, but now I didn't mind. Apparently I was now controlled by my happy-go-lucky personality as they seemed surprised by my tone.

"I am not going to question that." Kasumi said from under her hood. "You've made so many weird things already, that this one kind of fits you."

Meanwhile Shepard was walking down the hallway we just entered with Miranda and Jacob by his side. Finally we reached a big chamber with multiple yellow elliptical shapes on the walls. I couldn't tell if these were lights or something else. They didn't seem like it. There was too much of them and they were placed in an unorganized pattern.

But then we walked closer and I've noticed slim shapes INSIDE these things. Bodies. Human bodies.

"Looks like one of the missing colonists." Miranda stated. I decided not to argue for once, as I was stationed in the Carvin space and didn't even meet Shepard when it happened.

"By the Spirits..." Garrus was looking at these pods. "How many more do they have?"

"Dunno. Seems like a lot." I replied. And there my eye caught a movement. I turned towards it to see the colonist in the pod starting to shake violently. She started screaming and punching the yellow glass that kept her inside the pod. Her skin started changing, like if it was being burned or dissolved.

"My God! She's still alive!" Shepard gasped.

Without even thinking about it (just like in the old times), I dropped my rifle, pushed Garrus away and ran towards the pod. Shepard was standing on my way so I swung my right hand lightly to get him out of the way. He was thrown to the side a bit harder than I wanted, yet this was not important now. I punched the glass with my metallic hand and it shattered immediately. The colonist fell down in my arms and then I felt something on her skin - multiple hard things. Like a metal dust.

'But this can't be a normal substance!' I thought as my panic level was at its peak. 'Maybe living organisms? Or mechanical...'

In the first scenario, I wouldn't be able to do much. However in the second, I might've just had a potential solution. As the colonist was screaming from pain in my arms, I decided to do something that maybe would cost me my ability to fight for this mission.

" _Overload shields for an EMP blast._ " I said in Carvin language and my broken HUD showed me a countdown of three seconds. " _Faster!_ "

After three seconds that felt like an eternity, my protective shield flashed over my skin and then exploded in a powerful EMP pulse.

My head was filled with pain as I collapesed on the ground while dropping the colonist at the same time. I couldn't feel anything besides my head now. Such strong EMP pulse probably knocked out the poor girl. But my inability to feel my body wasn't because my head hurt so badly. It was because my hands were cybernetic.

"Get them out of there!"

"Mordin! Take care of her."

"Virox... Virox!"

All of the voices I was hearing started to feel like an unintelligible noise.

'Thank goodness for superior sense of touch.' I thought as I slowly lost my conciousness.

 **Shepard's POV**

We managed to pull everyone we saw out of the pods just in time. It was a close call but fortunately all members of the crew that were abducted and not killed, were in the same place. I was so relieved when I saw Doctor Chakwas safe and sound. She was now lying on the ground with the others, trying to calm down.

"Shepard?" her voice was stuttering a bit, "You... you came for us."

"No one is left behind, doctor." I smiled weakly and helped her to get up as other crewmembers approached us, still having trouble with standing.

"Thank god you got here in time." Kelly Chambers said in relief. "A few more seconds and... I don't even want to think about it."

"The colonists were... processed." Chakwas explained with great saddness in her voice. "Those swarms of little robots... they melted their bodies into gray liquid and pumped it through these tubes." then she looked at the girl that Virox managed to save just in time. "At least she was saved from this terrible fate."

And then I noticed Virox lying next to her, his mechanic limbs twitching from time to time. He must have overloaded some of his systems to take out the robots on her body. Still, the fact that he managed to figure out what was causing this skin melting was making me wonder how powerful the Carvins actually are.

It was not a good moment to wonder about that though. I approached the unconcious Virox and activated my omni-tool. A weak electrical pulse should wake him up. The orange device around my hand flashed and sent a quick shock to Virox's body. His body immediately twitched strongly and I've heard a gasp for air.

"Ahh! Again..." he groaned, but his limbs were completely still. He raised his head up and glanced at his body. "And now this..."

"You OK?" I asked him and held my hand to help him up, but he shook his head.

"I can't move. The pulse has deactivated my limbs. It will take a few minutes before my body will produce enough energy to turn on the back-up power system." he said, but glared at me with his usual sarcastic expression shortly after. "OR you could just turn it on using your bloody omni-tool!"

It took a while to finally bring him back to his acceptable performance. He finally stood up and checked if his hands were working properly. Then he grabbed his rifle from the ground with a smirk on his face.

"Well, I think I'm ready." he said while resting his rifle on the shoulder.

"Good. Then we might proceed further with the plan." Miranda appeared right next to me, almost giving me a heart attack AGAIN. "We've done well so far. Let's hope we can finish the job."

'I hope so too.' I said to myself and prayed for the success for our mission. Because this success was going to give the races of the galaxy time.

Time it desperately needs to prepare for the return of the Reapers...

 **A/N: Aaaand we'll end it here. (YOU MONSTER!). Originally I planned for this chapter to cover the whole Suicide mission, while the next one would cover the Epilogue for this series. But then I realized that I'm being a lazy prick and you haven't gotten any chapter for over a month. So I decided that I will split the Suicide mission into two and the second chapter will also cover the Epilogue. Still, this thing is over 13 000 words and you can expect something around 10 000 from the next chapter, since it will be the end of the ME2-based series. Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter. As always: Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


	17. Suicide mission pt 2 Epilogue

**A/N: Yeah... it took me longer than one month... (no shit, Sherlock). I know that I was keeping you waiting, but there were some things that influenced my ability to write. First of all, my PC has gone to hell and I had to reset it, deleting my 90% finished chapter in the process. Fortunately I had a backup on Fanfiction that was about 60% complete. Still it took me some time to bring back my PC to the state from before the reset. Second thing is I was preparing for the exam session. Then there was Christmas... then school again and I basically lost my inspiration a bit. I'm not trying to give excuses. I'm completely aware that I f**ked up, so yeah. You can judge me, I know this is my fault.**

 **Alright, enough of this emotional bullshit. It's not like I'm leaving you forever... right? Anyway, let's get to the important stuff.**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Shadowhorror: I really enjoyed this chapter keep up the good work :) hope Virox survives the mission.**

 **Thank you very much... as for Virox's survival, don't worry. He'll only be insane for the rest of his life because of that metal thing :D**

 **That being said,**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Collector Base, Shepard's POV**

I really hoped we can finish this. After all I planned to tell about this to the Alliance. Everyone gathered around me, including the crew that we freed from the tanks. Even Lil' Anderson sat down next to me and started staring in my eyes. It was always up to me now.

"Joker? Can you get a fix on our position?" I spoke through the comms.

"Roger that, Commander. All those tubes lead into the main control room right above you." pilot replied quickly. "The route is blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in."

"I cannot recommend that." EDI joined the channel. "Thermal emmissions suggest the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once."

That was something but the seeker swarms were complicating everything. Kinetic barriers wouldn't protect them for long... but maybe the same principle would aid us.

"How about biotics?" I asked as no other ideas were popping up in my head. "Could we create a biotic field to keep them from getting near us?"

"Yes... I think it may be possible." Samara replied after a short while. "I wouldn't be able to protect everyone, but we might be able to get a small team through if they stayed close."

"I could do it too." Miranda added. "In theory every biotic could handle it. Who do you want to maintain the field?"

'In theory...' I repeated in my head and then analyzed every biotic we had in the team.

Miranda and Thane were defianetely off the list. They were using their biotics to enhance their abilities and manipulate the battlefield in their favour to gain the upper hand. How useful it was in battle, there was no guarantee that they would possess enough strength to maintain the field through the whole way.

Jack was completely opposite. She was a heavy hitter that possessed powerful biotic strength and used it in combat as a main source of damage. She would defianetely possess the strength to maintain the field, but from what I observed, her biotics are unpredictable and it would be 'unfortunate' if an incident occured during the way.

Jacob was the closest so far to the 'golden pattern' I was looking for. Quite balanced between the damage and support role, though still falling a bit to the latter. And he was a special operative rather than a front line soldier, similar to Miranda.

And there was finally Samara. In my opinion she was the best choice for this task. As a justicar she used her biotics to equally fight the criminals and protect the innocent, which would suggest that she is equally skilled in using them for both offense and defense.

"Samara and I will take a small team through the seeker swarms." I said. Then I turned to the others. "The rest of you will provide a diversion by going through the main passage. We'll open the security doors from the other side and meet you there." seeing the look on Miranda's face I quickly added "And before you ask Miranda, Garrus will lead the second team."

"Deal with it, cheerleader." I heard Virox from the back.

"I'll keep the defenders busy. You slip around the back." Garrus himself kept his tone moderately serious, though I could hear a bit of satisfaction in his voice. My suspicions were confirmed as he and Virox high-fived eachother and started preparing their weapons for combat.

"What about me and the rest of the crew, Shepard?" Doctor Chakwas asked suddenly. "We're in no shape to fight, and that girl that Virox saved can barely walk."

I cursed myself for forgetting about them. Of course they wouldn't do any good in the fight, but then they couldn't stay here either. Fortunately Joker came to the rescue as he always does.

"Commander? We have enough systems back online to do a pickup, but we'd have to land back from your position."

"We cannot afford to go back, Shepard. Not now." Miranda stated, and it really started to annoy me that she was stating the obvious. Strangely, I felt that I understand why Virox and Jack don't like her.

"I'll have someone escort you to the pickup zone." I calmed everyone down and started to debate who to send.

We needed our heavy-hitters on the field and it was not that the Collectors would bother to pursue this group if we were going to make big noise. All we needed was someone who could safely escort them to the Normandy without taking away too much destructive power from the other team. My choice was narrowed to Thane and Mordin. Then again Mordin was a doctor and giving the current state of the crew, it could be useful to have someone with some medical knowledge to make sure that no one stays behind.

My eyes landed on the salarian doctor and he immediately understood before I could say anything.

"Joker? Need location of landing zone. We'll meet you there." he said into the communicator.

The choices were made. Now I was going to either live with them, or die knowing that I've made the wrong ones. How positive.

"We've all got our assignments. Let's move." I said.

"Kill them all!" Virox shouted to surprise of everyone else and I started to think that this 'split personality' thing he's talking about is legit. Oh whatever, he was always kind of... mentally different.

 **Virox's POV**

Seeing the hateful glare of Miranda just made the whole damn pain I've been through so far worth it. She got denied AGAIN and what's even funnier is that Shepard did it. Not me, not Garrus. Shepard...

'You glorious bastard.' I thought happily as Commander took Kasumi and Jacob with him and vanished behind the door. There was nothing left to do other than join my group as Garrus led us through another door. Oh there was going to be slaughter. I could smell it.

We entered another tight hallway... kinda familiar I must say, but maybe the Collectors are just really unoriginal. It was very quiet and apart from the steps of the squadmates, nothing made noise. I exposed my ears more to the sound so that I could hear better.

And it was a perfect decision. The sound of footsteps of the squad was bouncing off the walls of the hallway, but only to a certain point. And the farther we were walking, the shorter the echo was. Something was ahead.

"Guys..." I whispered as my ears were slowly returning to their normal hearing style. "There is a quite large room up ahead."

"How do you know that?" Miranda asked suspiciously.

"I used your footsteps as a sonar." I anwsered and after recieving a few surprised looks, I added "Similar to the thing that these... bats of yours do, humans."

"Surprised you even know that stuff." Zaeed grumbled.

"Hey, I'm trying to stay educated." I grinned, but Garrus silenced us with his raised hand.

"Stop talking!" he said sharply as the hallway turned left and we saw some crates at the sides of it. Now even without enhancing my hearing I could tell that there was a room up ahead. "Virox was right. Take positions on the flanks."

We did as he said and I looked triumphantly at Miranda, who just shrugged. Pure satisfaction just tickled my Ego.

"Wait for my signal, I'll inform Shepard we're ready." Garrus ordered as I peaked out of cover. Fortunately my visors were still working so I could see things easier.

The room was... well, not a room, but a chamber rather. And a huge one at that. Its walls were covered in these pods we encountered before and the small lights on the ceiling were giving only so much light and giving the whole place a grim look. The floor however was not floor, but dozens of hex-shaped platforms positioned at different heights. This battlefield was full of highgrounds and potential sniper nests, yet when facing the enemy on the same altitude, it gave a lot of different types of cover, from crates through plated wiring of the platforms, to metallic collumns that were present for seemingly unknown reason.

"Damn it." I've heard Garrus grumbling. "The signal is disrupted. Collectors have prepared themselves this time."

"Won't be prepared anymore when we fuck their shit up." Jack replied as she tightened her grip on the shotgun. Her skin flashed with purple for a moment, when she activated her barriers.

"Alright... this is it." my turian friend sighed as he was studying the battlefield too. He had a huge burden on his shoulders now. It was up to him to lead us through here. "When I say go, you run to these covers over there."

"Copy." I nodded and prepared myself mentally for what was about to happen. "On you."

Garrus took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. There was pure determination in his eyes. I knew he was ready for this, even if others didn't. "GO!"

And then the mayhem has started.

All of us ran out of hiding and started shooting. Collectors who didn't die immediately attempted to take cover, yet some of them were still caught in the rain of fire we unleashed. I noticed two drones on the highground aiming at Grunt who just pumped a shell in some Collector's head. Without a second thought my rifle spewed two energy bolts as I aimed down my sights at the Collectors. They both dropped dead and fell off the ledge they were standing on.

However there were more Collectors on the way, now supported with husk cannon fodder. We couldn't focus on both of these threats simultaneously, yet if we ignored one, it would bite us in the ass sooner or later. Quite literally.

I've noticed a small highground with some cover that was on the left from my position. A perfect sniping spot. My eyes went to Garrus who just punched a thermal clip out of his sniper rifle. He had a hard time trying to keep all the husks away from himself, especially with a weapon he had.

"Garrus!" I opened the comm after hiding behind cover. "There is a decent sniping spot on your ten o'clock!"

"Got it!" turian turned around and moved towards the small hex-shaped platforms that were forming some kind of stairs. "On my way!"

He quickly climbed up as I was providing cover for him and looked through the scope of his rifle. I couldn't pay attention to him anymore, so I focused on taking out the nearest enemies.

The first husk I aimed for got its head completely smoked. Other two fell on the ground with smoking holes in their chests. I could see the heat indicator rising sharply on my HUD as I continued firing.

But then I saw a Scion emerging from the Collector horde. It aimed its "handcannon" at me.

*CRACK*

"In the worst possible moment." I grumbled as I realized how much I hate them right now. But before I could take an aim on the filthy monstrosity, a bullet flew through the air and hit the bags of liquid on the beast's back.

"Hostile engaged!" Garrus smirked to me from his sniping position. Then he looked through the scope again and while I killed another 3 Collector soldiers, he put a bullet right between the Scion's eyes.

*CRACK*

"Show off." I said through the comms but the rest started to move forward, so I couldn't do anything but join them.

As we were advancing and Garrus jumped down from his sniping spot after switching to assault rifle, we started to gain momentum. Most of us stayed behind one cover for no longer than five seconds and while the irregular terrain of the battlefield was slowing us down significantly.

Thane just kicked a husk in the chest so hard, it rolled down to the side of the platform to then fall down to its demise. Legion was picking off Collectors one by one with his sniper rifle, which was clearly annoying Garrus. However the latter stayed cold in the face of the enemy as he shredded through the Abominations and Collector Drones.

Meanwhile I switched to fully automatic mode. My rifle was spitting out energy in deadly volleys as I was happily shooting down enemies. I was about to kill another group of husks, but then my weapon beeped with a warning and my HUD flashed red, indicating that the gun was overheated.

'Shit.' I grumbled and moved forward to cover behind a big crate. From there I would be able to pick off husks one by one using my blades.

But when I was about to press my side to the crate, I've heard a noise behind me. I turned around to stand face to face with a Collector Assassin. It raised his weapon at me quickly. My body reacted instinctively as I pressed my rifle's side to its face and activated heat dispersion. The heat sink popped out and melted the poor bastard's face.

"Eat that you, son-of-a-maggot!" I yelled while still pressing my rifle on the already dead Collector.

After I burned a hole in the face of the Assassin, I've felt multiple weak floor vibrations from behind me (thank goodness for these high-quality military-grade cyber implants).

'Those husks probably.' I thought and my ears only confirmed my suspicions. As I pulled my weapon out of the scorched face on the ground and the first husk got close enough, I swung my cybernetic tail at it while turning around as well, knocking it back several meters. Two other husks walked towards me and I jumped towards the one that was closer. Then I grabbed its head and twisted it 180 degree to the left (my left). The second one had a longer death. It swung at me, which I easily blocked with my left arm and punched it backwards. The poor thing fell on the ground, but I wasn't done. As it tried to stand up, I put my leg on its chest. Husk started swinging its hands in attempt to break free, but I caught them both with ease and started pulling. After roughly one second I was holding the arms sepearated from the body, yet the husk was still screaming. I stomped on its head with a quick "Shut up.", ending its miserable life.

I ran towards the rest of the squad which already advanced around a dozen meters forward. Tali's drone... Chattika if I'm not mistaken, was flying around the battlefield, burning the Collectors behind covers with its flamethrower. Jack just blasted a bunch of husks out of existence, while Zaeed threw an incinerary grenade at the incoming Scion.

I joined the squad and immediately noticed a quite large squad of Collector Drones hiding behind cover dead ahead. Knowing that eliminating them quickly would let us keep the momentum that gave us strength and allowed us to advance faster, I pulled out one of my multi-purpose grenades. Then I set the explosion type to 'singularity' and threw it at the Collectors. As I never saw this new type of explosion, I was waiting impatiently for the results.

And they were beautiful.

When the grenade touched the ground, after a second it launched a tiny singularity next to the unlucky Collectors that just happened to be taking cover there. The mini black hole that was created by the grenade lifted them up, exposing them to the incoming fire. Thane and Legion immediately took the advantage from that fact and picked off the levitating soldiers one by one. Finally after about five seconds the singularity vanished and the dead bodies fell down with a loud 'THUMP'.

"Nice shooting!" Garrus shouted after he himself shot down two Collector soldiers.

'No thank you? Anything?' I thought to myself, but seeing as everyone else ignored me, I shrugged and ran towards the next cover. 'Bunch of assholes.'

Now our momentum wasn't letting us stop, even for cover. We moved so fast that we just ran past some of the husks crawling towards us from below. However... everything that is moving needs to stop at some point, whether it will hit a fluffy pillow (which Carvins DO use too, thank you very much), or a metal wall. Ours was more similar to the second one.

While it let us advance quickly and prevent the Collectors from forming any type of organized resistance, it made us leave the other 'unimportant' enemies alive. And now all of these 'unimportant' enemies piled up into one big horde (as if we haven't seen it before). Although this time I saw my unholy nemesis among them. The Praetorian. They were quite far behind us, but they could reduce distance quickly.

"Fuck! The door is still closed!" Jack grunted after trying to biotically open the door.

"Everyone, take cover!" Garrus shouted.

"There isn't much cover here." I pointed out. We were right in front of the door where the only cover was created by the curves of the walls. Aside from that we were exposed.

Garrus was sweating, either from exhaustion (which was doubtful, as I know him well) or stress. The life of the team depended equally on him, Shepard and Samara. He had no choice but to wait for Shepard with us.

"The least durable will take cover. The rest tries stay as far from others as possible. We need to hold on until Shepard arrives." he finally ordered. "Tali, Thane and Miranda! Go take cover!"

Surprisingly all of them obeyed. This was a good call. We could tank the damage, but they would quickly get themselves killed if exposed.

*CRACK*

Now it was time to let the Collectors experience some true pain. I set my rifle back to the semi-automatic mode. After these few personality swaps I realized that I'm more effective with semi-automatic while serious and more with automatic when being a giggly bitch. This time it was precision that would win the day.

I kneeled on one of my knees to stabilize my position and reduce the general exposure to fire, even if it was a small change. The screeching of Collector Drones and moans of the husks were getting louder and louder. Now we were just waiting for them to come.

 **Garrus' POV**

'Damn it, Shepard! Where are you?' I thought as the seemingly never-ending horde of Collectors was pushing at us. Though at the beggining we could easily take out the incoming hostiles, their sheer amount made prioritizing targets even more important.

I shot one of the Collector Assassins that was just charging his particle rifle. The shrieks of the dead were filling our ears with the sound of our weapons firing. My barriers were now on 67% and didn't have time to regenerate as the wave of fire was constantly wearing it down. The status of others varied on their position, weapons... and biology. Thane, Tali and Miranda were quite fine, considering they were taking cover. Zaeed kept laying down fire with his M-8 Avenger insulting the Collectors in so many creative ways I couldn't understand most of it. Jack kept using her biotics to either tear the enemies apart or blast them into the air. Grunt was laughing like a child he is while unleashing devastating full auto from his rifle. Legion switched to his rifle too and kneeled down to make himself as small target as possible, since geth, while having extraordinary strong shields, were quite soft targets after these went down.

Only Virox was calm. He was precise now. Each of his shots landed perfectly hitting the incoming husks in the heads. He was his other self now. Heartless. Emotionless. Deadly. His shields were already down, but I was still amazed how he tanked a shot after shot, just flinching a bit every time he was hit. His armor was a wreck, his cybernetic limbs had multiple dents and cracks, yet he just stood there, doing what he was trained to do his whole life. Kill.

"Shepard, come in!" I called through the comms again. "Shepard, where are you!?"

And the voice of relief rang through my head as the reply came.

"We're coming!" Commander said with determination that I barely noticed through the overwhelming amount of fire directed at us. "Where are you?"

"We're pinned down by the door! Need immediate backup! " I screamed and immediately after that my shields failed. Multiple bullets hit me at the same time and I felt incredible pain in my side.

"Garrus wounded!" Virox shouted as he ran to stand in front of me. "Pull back! The door will be open soon!"

And as if he called it perfectly, the doors opened revealing Shepard, Samara, Jacob and Kasumi who started laying down cover fire for us to get in.

"GO!" Virox screamed through his shoulder as he was still shielding me with himself. I quickly turned around and ran through the door as the rest of the team was already there.

I quickly ran inside followed closely by my Carvin friend and the door got shut by Samara. I leaned against the wall, holding my side. It hurt, but I lived through worse. After all I took a missile to the face. Shepard approached me to check if everything was alright, but I already felt that pain was slowly becoming less noticable.

The others were moderately fine... except Virox of course. How was it that he always was 'not like everyone else' I had no idea. As others were still panting from exhaustion, but were mostly intact, Virox was bleeding from his torso, his cybernetic limbs were badly damaged, yet he was standing there as calmly as his current state was allowing him to. His physical endurance was continuing to amaze me like when he was taking these shots for me to escort me to the rest of the team.

"Holy shit, you sure can take a lot, man." Jack panted with exhaustion while leaning on a wall nearby.

Carvin didn't reply. His second personality was creeping me out, but I couldn't deny how powerful and deadly it made him. Still I liked him more when he was the happy-go-lucky alien that treated the battlefield like his own personal playground.

"Joker? Are you at the rendezvous point?" I've heard Shepard next to me. At least his team went out of this hell without major wounds.

"I'm here, Commander." we've heard a reply, since we were all connected to the same frequency at the moment. "Chakwas and the rest of the crew just showed up."

"Mordin's group just arrived, Shepard. No casualties." EDI added and I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't doubt doctor's combat abilities, but I also didn't doubt those of the Collectors. After all they had a drastic numerical advantage and the crew that Mordin was escorting was incapable of fighting.

"Excellent. Now let's make it count." Miranda said. "EDI, what's our next step?"

"There should be some nearby platforms that should take you to the main control console." AI replied. "From there you can overload the system and destroy the base."

An idea of flying through the giant corridors of the Collector Base wasn't very appealing to me, since the Collectors outnumbered us... a lot to one, had technological advantage, and would probably outflank us sooner or later.

"Uh, Commander? You've got a problem." Joker joined. I was tired of bad news but nobody said it was going to be easy. "Hostiles messing just outside the door. Won't be long 'till they bust through."

Shepard let out a sigh. I noticed that it was full of pain, but not surprise. Like if nothing would catch him off guard right now. Not after everything that we've gone through. He climbed up onto the platform that was to take the team to the main control console.

"A rear guard could defend this position and keep the Collectors from overwhelming us." he said with determination. It was not pleading or begging. He knew that we wouldn't abandon him, especially now. And he was not wrong. Not after what he did for all of us.

"Pick a team to go with you, Shepard. Everyone else can bunker down here and cover your back." Miranda said like if it was just another procedure. I kind of felt pity for her. She was raised by a very demanding father that expected her to obey without question. Yet despite her escape to Cerberus, the organization only strengthened this obedience and following of protocols.

Commander gazed upon the whole team. I was kind of wishing to be selected, but Shepard needed fast and elusive (no, not Illusive) companions on this one. They needed to get to the console fast to then blow up the station. Giving that, I wouldn't be fit for that task at all. Finally Shepard's eyes landed on Kasumi. She nodded slightly, while Commander turned his head towards... Miranda. She too understood the nonverbal message and both of them climbed on the platform. I was amazed how we all know Shepard so good that we can just look at eachother and understand. Virox was looking pretty satisfied with the Commander's choice. I could almost hear him saying 'Well, one less annoyance to worry about' and couldn't help but chuckle mentally. Shepard's dog, that was surprisingly quiet and hard to notice overall now jumped onto the platform to join the squad.

"Anything to say before we do this?" Miranda asked.

Shepard took off his helmet. It was again the speech time, yet again no one said anything. I swear I felt warmth emanating from him that made me feel hope. Hope that we will make it out of here alive.

"The Collectors, the Reapers - they aren't a threat to us. They are a threat to everything. Everyone. Those are the lives we're fighting for. That's the scale." he said with a strong voice that echoed through the chamber we were in. "It's been a long journey. And no one is coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. Unity is the best weapon we have against them. We leave this place together, or we bury ourselves with it. We can depend on eachother. Together we will reach for the victory and take it. So make me proud. Make yourselves proud."

And for once, after a speech, nobody said a word. Even Virox's personality seemed to have switched to the dead serious one. The platform lifted off and headed towards the heart of the station. We looked at eachother. Each and every one of us. Yet no one showed any signs of fear. It was more like an acceptance of what was inevitable. We all knew that this could be a one-way trip. So if the Collectors wanted to bring us down, we'd pull them down with us.

We started to take anything lying around and forming barricades out of it. Crates, scrap, hell Virox even used his cybernetic implants to tear off the metal plating from the walls. We wouldn't be more ready. All of us took their positions. All of us were silent. Stone cold on the outside, but terrified on the inside. The Collectors were close to getting in. We tightened the grips on our weapons which were aimed at the door. I could hear the heartbeats of Zaeed and Jack next to me. Despite what Shepard said, we would never be deprived of fear. It would always be there. It's in our nature.

The doors were almost breached and the breaths of the whole squad could be heard echoing through the chamber. Did we have any doubts? Doubts of surviving this battle? Doubts of seeing our friends and families again? Doubts of our own loyalty to the team? Perhaps but no one said a word.

Not when the last battle for the Collector Base was about to begin.

Not when the sparks started to come from the doors.

And not when the Collectors have opened fire.

Not a word.

 **Normandy, No-one's POV**

Despite the Collector forces being on high alert, the area around the ship was quiet. Not a single patrol passed near the Normandy, which calmed down the crew inside. Mordin, along with Doctor Chakwas, who was the fastest to recover from the shock, were now helping the other members of the crew and the colonist that Virox saved. The girl needed medical attention in particular as the nanobots from the pod started to dissolve her skin when she was rescued.

"Doctor Chakwas, we need more medi-gel." Mordin said as Lilith was lying in the infirmary. She was knocked out to not feel all the pain.

"Right away profesor." Chakwas replied, still having trouble with keeping balance. She administered the healing salve with her omni-tool. The girl's skin looked really bad. In some parts of her arms the meat was exposed and the whole body was generally under a high risk of infection.

Other members of the crew weren't much better, Joker included. He was sitting in the cockpit leaning on his arm and his hand scratching his face. He was no soldier. Heck, he could barely walk. The only thing he could do was flying. And he was damn good at it. But right now, when his only skill was close to useless, he felt frustrated. He desperately wanted to help in some way, but what could he do? If he tried to run at the Collectors, his legs would break halfway to his target IF he wasn't going to get shot.

"Jeff, something wrong?" EDI appeared on her terminal. She has become more... human after he unshackled her. He couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She was now more carrying, having almost "motherly" attitude at times.

"No." he lied, but then he realized that she KNOWS that something is wrong if she asks. "It's just... I feel useless now. I mean we're just sitting there waiting for Shepard to come back. And he needs every help he can get, yet we cannot do anything."

For once after such anwser EDI remained silent, which only made him more curious about the changes that occured in her. Maybe she was thinking about the anwser. Or mabye she thought the same way. It was impossible to tell.

Joker thought about everything that happened between him, Shepard and the crew in general. He remembered the time when the Eden Prime shitstorm was told to be just a routine mission, yet he knew better. The time when they chased Saren. The Battle of Citadel. The destruction of the first Normandy and the death of Shepard. His resurrection. The Carvins. And the formation of the suicide squad.

Virox once told him that all memories can and should be helpful in some way. And that they just had to look for the positivities in them. Now it was clear what he meant. All these memories showed that they were moving forward. They were giving them hope. And the death and resurrection of Shepard only proved that the Reapers wouldn't stop them. They were going to fight and win.

"You are correct, Jeff." EDI suddenly replied. "We are not of any help for the Commander now. However, if the plan succeeds, but Commander and the team die, we are the only ones left to tell what happened and prepare the galaxy for the Reaper invasion."

'Wow. That was deep for an AI.' Joker thought.

"Joker! Prep the engines! I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high!" sudden voice of Shepard has thrown him out of his contemplations.

"Roger that, Commander." he immediately obeyed and started warming up the engines for the evacuation. But then something started glowing on the comm terminal in the cockpit. It was a request for a highly encrypted transmission. The source was obvious. "Uh, Commander? I've got an incoming signal from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching it through."

But the transmission wasn't shown to him and EDI apparently didn't bother to disrupt the privacy between Shepard and the Illusive Man. Joker didn't know what the Illusive Man wanted, but from past experiences he knew that such transmissions during missions meant that something isn't right.

"Normandy? Ground team to Normandy! Do you copy!?" turian voice asked through the comms.

"We hear you, ground team!" Joker immediately replied. "What's wrong?"

"We're moving towards your location, but there is a lot of Collector forces chasing us!" Garrus replied, while panting heavily. It was obvious that they were running towards the ship. "Just be ready for a quick pickup!"

"Roger." Joker quickly ended the transmission and turned on the speakers on the ship. "OK, everybody hold on! We're gonna pick up the ground team, so get ready for a bumpy ride!"

 **Ground team, Virox's POV**

Holding the line by the door was easy at first. The Collectors just ran at us and increased the size of the pile of bodies that formed at the doorway, making it harder for them to get in. But when the heavy support came in, things started to get a bit interesting. I don't remember much from that moment. I only remember that my body wasn't just a walking shell for my brain and soul. It was a tool of death and destruction. It switched into an instinctive and almost automatic type of response. Fire a couple of shots, take cover, switch to automated fire, spray the doorway from behind cover, switch back to semi-automatic, repeat. But not all of us had infinite ammo, and I only had two weapons at my disposal. I gave my pistol to Thane after temporarily turning off the security measures after he ran out of ammo. But we were going to die sooner or later if we stayed there.

Fortunately Shepard ordered us to return to the Normandy and Joker was going to land the Normandy somewhere behind us so that we wouldn't need to go through the endless horde of Collectors that was flooding us. Garrus was coordinating the defense and when the time came to retreat, he, Grunt, Samara and I have stayed for a while to cover the retreat of the more vulnerable members of our team.

I told myself that I won't die. I told myself that I will get out of here alive with my friends. And that was probably one of the few things that was still keeping me alive. My armor was a mess. My shields couldn't regenerate under the constant volley of fire from the Collectors. My left arm had problems with responding to my commands at moments. I was bleeding and could feel at least three places in which my bones were broken. Yet in this hell, where I could die any second now, I felt alive. I felt alive in my natural element. Combat.

And my personality was a whole now. Maybe for a moment but it was one of the most precious moments in my life. Many soldiers in the army said to have had what humans call "Catharsis" in some very hopeless moments. They have accepted their fate and fought only to take as much enemies to the grave with them as possible. And I remember feeling something like that only once. During the Battle for Travalaan, where around 60 000 000 soldiers had died. I was ready to die. I would embrace it if I had to. If it meant saving my friends. I could feel that the will to sacrifice myself for the others was in my nature. My deep primitive nature. Nature that Carvins embrace, not flee from.

"Alright people, we gave them some time!" Garrus shouted through the noises of the firefight and explosions. "Time for us to leave now!"

"For once I won't argue with that!" Grunt... grunted.

We started running towards the rest of the team, while blindly shooting behind us. After a moment we saw the Normandy's side door opened with our teammates standing in it with their weapons ready. The Collectors were still chasing us, but nothing would keep us away from the ship. I felt like if I wasn't running. I was flying. And after jumping above a small gap between the cliff and the Normandy I landed on the metallic floor. In half a second I turned around, almost hitting Tali with my cybernetic tail. Samara was the second to reach the ship, but then the Collector forces have reached us and started shooting. We have welcomed them with our own wall of fire and destruction as Grunt jumped in as well. Garrus as the leader stayed at the back, but he too managed to reach the ship intact.

"All onboard! Joker, get us out!" he shouted and the Normandy soon lifted off, leaving the Collectors with empty hands.

We ran inside and into the cockpit, where Joker was maneuvering the ship.

"Where's Shepard?" someone shouted, I couldn't tell who, as felt dizzy suddenly.

"He's still in the heart of the station." pilot anwsered while moving his hands rapidly to control the ship. "He should be-"

But he was cut off as the ship got hit by a shockwave. The whole station just got hit by something big and heavy.

"The scans suggest that Commander and his team have sharply moved towards the lower levels of the station." EDI said. "I can pinpoint a pickup zone near their position."

"Whatever this shockwave was, probably knocked them down a few levels." I noted, while trying to maintain balance. The exhaustion was taking its toll on me.

"They are not moving from their current position." AI added. "The Collectors are about to overrun the area."

I then realized what happened. They were either dead, wounded, or unconcious. Joker seemed to understand too as he lifted the ship and headed towards the pickup zone.

"Commander? Commander are you there? Do you copy? Commander?" he shouted with a desperate voice. "Come on, Shepard, don't leave me hanging? Do you copy?"

We all waited for the reply. It felt like minutes, yet it was a mere second.

"I'm here, Joker." the reply came and everyone sighed with relief. "Did the ground team make it?"

"Yep, we're just waiting for you." I anwsered before Joker could even say a word.

EDI has displayed a map of the Collector Base and we saw that Shepard's team started to move towards us. Joker just moved the ship through a tight opening to then enter quite a big chamber.

"EDI, take the controls." he said then stood up right after that and took the M-8 Avenger from Grunt. "Give me that." Then he went to the Normandy's airlock.

I was quick to join him and finally noticed Shepard's team running towards the ship with the Collectors on their tail. Joker started firing at the incoming Drones and I did the same. First came the dog. It jumped on the metal floor of the ship then turned around towards Shepard and started whimper as if it was afraid that he won't make it. Then there was Kasumi that was actually invisible and just hit me by accident. Miranda was the third to get in, but then a platform fell from above, knocking some of the ground from the cliff that served as a ramp. Shepard was running towards us, but he would have to make a long jump. It was going to be hard, especially with the Collectors on his back.

When he was close enough, he jumped. It was a damn long jump but he managed to grab himself. I used my superior strength of implants to quickly pull him up. We quickly got in as EDI started the countdown.

"Detonation in 9, 8, 7, 6-"

"Yeah yeah I get it. Hold on!" Joker said as he limped towards the pilot seat.

The station was clearly not going to hold much longer. Normandy was some distance away from the base, but when the explosion erupted, the wave of destruction was right behind us. But as it was about to hit us, we jumped into FTL.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and I felt that exhaustion was taking over. Shepard said something about having a chat with the Illusive Man, but I was so tired I barely even heard it. I somehow managed to reach the deck 3. Then I collapsed on the chair. The Reapers were coming, but if I was to fight them in such state, I'll say Thank you but no. And then a certain turian sat on the chair next to me and exhaled deeply. So I wasn't the only one completely exhausted. I let out a quiet chuckle before the sleep finally got me.

 **EPILOGUE**

And as Normandy Sr-2 flew through the endless darkness of space, there was still light in the hearts of the whole crew. The Collectors were gone.

Although that didn't mean that it was time for celebration. The Reapers were going to find out about the destruction of their forces in the Milky Way and immediately begin their journey back to harvest all the advanced sentinent life in the galaxy. The end was coming.

As for the crew of the Normandy, some of them needed to leave just after the suicide mission. Virox was given an order to immediately report to the Carvin High Command and give all the available information on the Reapers and Collectors. Shepard was disappointed but left him on one of the outer colonies of the Carvin Empire. As he was leaving, Virox promised to keep in touch and exchange all the information that he will be allowed to, and then slowly walked away towards his fellow soldiers who escorted him to the shuttle that was going to take him back to Carvistorn.

Garrus also left earlier. A few days after Virox. He wanted to prepare the Turian Hierarchy for the inevitable return of the Reapers as well, or at least focus his efforts on improving the turian defenses.

Others left sooner or later. Tali went back to the Migrant Fleet, Legion vanished in the Perseus Veil, Grunt decided to stay on Tuchanka, Mordin returned to the STG and Samara left to spread justice in the Asari space. Thane after a lot of convincing decided to stay on the Citadel in the Huerta Memorial Hospital, Zaeed left to look for a new job, while Kasumi and Jack didn't return to the Normandy after one visit to the Citadel. Though it was likely that they went their separate ways after that.

Being alone on the ship felt boring for Shepard as the days have passed without much interesting things happening. Although that changed with the transmission from Admiral Hackett telling him about the Project Base. This immediately increased the morale of the whole crew as they had a mission again. A mission and a purpose.

However not everything was going well in the Milky Way. The galactic tension was rising and rising as Carvins started their massive fortification and armament program. The planets located closer to the Mass Relays were most heavily defended at the moment, while the massive Carvin shipyards were relentlessly working on finishing the Carvin Ark and building multiple ships each week, mostly cruisers and frigates. The conscription was increased and multiple obligatory training sessions were organized on multiple core and border worlds of the Carvin Empire. Many smaller colonies have been ordered to expand their garrisons and increase the number of soldiers on active duty. And after recieving a lot of eezo from the Elcor, the net comm buoys was created in the Carvin Empire as a second way of communicating, since it didn't exist before. Carvins started to temporarily transform their industry to fit their current war economy while the fleets have been put on high alert near the borders, yet not directly in the border systems.

The Council reacted immediately with outrage and took it as preparation for war, yet they only possessed information about some of the borders as not all of them were within the reach of Mass Relays. Besides, their military forces couldn't affect Carvins in any very impactful way as most of the colonies were positioned outside the range of Mass Relays. Carvin ambassador Zayan Te'Kraan replied to these accusations with the following words: "If you cannot see, or refuse to admit the inevitable threat that is to arrive in our galaxy, then we have no bussiness with you. We shall die together, yet it will be us who will die last." Surprisingly to all races, Human councilor David Anderson defended the Carvin actions, as he stated that the recent events, beggining from the Battle for Citadel, through abduction of Human colonists, to finally invasion on Carvin colony, are not coincidental. That was positively recieved by the Carvin Empire and Zayan Te'Kraan described the human councilor as "A politician who doesn't fear the truth. A man of action. These are the traits that we Carvins admire and traits that councilors of other races lack". Turian councilor's pride seemed to have been deeply hurt, but he remained silent after the statement.

Despite the political tension related to Carvins, they managed to find another comfortable zone for them in Citadel space. It was in the C-Sec and other security organizations. While Citadel usually remains a peaceful place, there are places even there that the police is scared to go to. A group of Carvins, freshly after a year of training in the Empire, volounteered to deal with a local Blue Suns gang. It was a gang large enough to make the security avoid the area. The officers of the C-Sec were unwilling to assist them at first, but when the Carvins convinced the fleet stationing over the Citadel to temporary grant the young Carvins weapons, they finally agreed. Although they warned them that if the granted weapons were to be used inappropriately, the whole Carvin Empire would be in trouble. After two hours of constant firefights Carvins managed to completely eliminate the Blue Suns by either subduing or killing its members. Only a few civilians recieved minor wounds, but there was no other casualties aside from the Blue Suns. The high-ranking turian C-Sec officer was so impressed by the effectiveness of the Carvin volounteers that he send a request to the Citadel Council to allow the Carvins to join the security. This was met with a bit of resistance as the Council was unwilling to approve, but in the face of a problem like gangs threatening the people of the Citadel, they ultimately had little choice. Carvins themselves reacted quite calmly, though they didn't hide their satisfaction and happiness as the C-Sec offices were flooded by the Carvins inhabiting the Citadel, each and every one of them wanted to sign up to the C-Sec. Multiple private Carvin security organizations were created shortly after

The rumors about the return of the Reapers started spreading across the galaxy, and while a great majority thinks of them as conspiracy theories only, some races started to take them seriously. Carvins were making the most visible changes, as most of their Empire has started 'early mobilization' in their space and the military was fully aware of what was now known about the Reapers, but the Salarian STG agents began their research in attempt of verifying if the rumors can have some truth in them. The Alliance, under Commander Shepard's constant pressure decided to slowly prepare for any potential offensive, though the human officers weren't quite convinced if what Shepard says is completely true. Other races didn't quite believe the rumors, but seeing their neighbours arming themselves, they couldn't do anything but join them and start their own armament projects.

As the Andromeda Initiative has been preparing to launch the Arks towards the Andromeda Galaxy, it came as completely unexpected surprise that Carvin Ark showed up on the ceremony right on time, under the command of Carvin High General Yuvaans Le'Ziin, the most skilled of all the High Generals when it came to expansion and colonization. Then Carvin Ark took its place besides its sisters and the Nexus, to then vanish into FTL in its long journey towards the Andromeda. Yet no one noticed that in the neighbouring system a small flotilla of ships slipped into FTL in pursuit of the Arks.

This was the beggining of a new era for the Milky Way, though it turned out to be not as positive as everyone would have thought.

Each and every member of Normandy crew, whether human or not, carried a burden now. A burden to help prepare the Galaxy for what was coming.

And it was Death that was coming.

 **A/N: So there it is. The end of first story. I must say I'm impressed that it actually was as popular as it was. Of course it wasn't perfect and I will re-write some of the first chapters, but overall I'm happy. I'll try to start the sequel ASAP, but after the recent... delay I don't want to make promises. Thank you again and see you in the next stories. Carry on!**

 **Bonker out!**


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